Halo 3 smashes all entertainment sales records (News)

Chris Jager, PC World

28/09/2007 10:32:23

Microsoft today announced that the highly anticipated Halo 3 video game has broken all existing entertainment launch records for first day sales in Australia. A mass of pre-orders leading up to the game's launch also made it the fastest pre-selling game ever.

During its first day on sale, Halo 3 sold over 50 000 copies in Australia alone (adding up to more than six million dollars in sales.) This makes Halo 3 the biggest first-day digital entertainment release in the country's history. Halo 3 has also become the biggest entertainment launch in US history, netting an estimated $195 million (US$170 million) in sales in just 24 hours. It beat previous records set by blockbuster movie releases like Spider-Man 3 and novels such as Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. David McLean, Xbox Director, says, "We are thrilled with the success of 'Halo 3' in Australia, and with the fact that a quarter of all Xbox 360 owners rushed out to buy 'Halo 3' on day one.." Worldwide, more than a million gamers connected to the Xbox LIVE online gaming service in the first day, making it the most active day in Xbox LIVE history. This caused a spate of technical problems for some users, due to the huge influx of traffic. (To read more, click here.)

Halo 3 marks the conclusion of the much-loved action trilogy, which started life on the original XBox console. The game picks up where "Halo 2" left off, answering questions around the fates of the beloved protagonist Master Chief and his artificial intelligence sidekick Cortana as they struggle to save humankind from destruction at the hands of the alien coalition known as the Covenant.

To read our comprehensive review, click here. Or, to view a slide show of the game in action, click here.