Halo 3: $300m in sales in first week

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And sales of Xbox 360 consoles nearly doubled, pats Microsoft on its own back

Oct 4, 2007

Halo 3 has topped $300 million in worldwide sales in its first week.

"Initial reports from retailers worldwide show console sales have more than doubled compared with the weekly average," Microsoft has added in a statement. Halo 3 a system seller? No way?

Bungie's sequel racked up $170m in sales on day one in the US alone, surpassing Microsoft's prediction of a measly $155m. Halo 2 generated $125 million in day one sales, to put that into some sort of perspective.

Even Bill Gates has been moved to comment, calling Halo a cultural phenomenon and the launch of Halo 3 an important milestone for Xbox 360 and for videogames as entertainment and as an art form.

"Halo 3 embodies our vision for the future of entertainment, where some of the world's greatest creative minds will deliver a new generation of interactive storytelling," Gates said.

Here's some more stats from Microsoft:

  • Over 2.7 million gamers have played Halo 3 on Live in the first week, representing nearly one-third of the seven million XBL members worldwide
  • Within the first day of its launch, Halo 3 players worldwide racked up more than 3.6 million hours of online gameplay, which increased more than elevenfold to 40 million hours by the end of the first week, representing more than 4,500 years of continuous gameplay
  • Since Halo 3 launched, gamers have unlocked nearly 30 million Achievements

Courtesy of CVG.

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