Garnering $170 million in the US within the first 24 hours of its launch, Halo 3 has officially become the biggest entertainment launch in history.
Halo 3 first day sales topped blockbuster movies such as Spider Man 3 and novels such as Harry Potter And The Deathly hallows, but this can be easily accredited to the game's higher average price ($60 for the standard edition, $75 for the Collector's edition and $125 for the Legendary).
"Halo 3 has become a pop-culture phenomenon" said Shane Kim, corporate vice president of Microsoft Game Studios. "Not only is Halo 3 setting sales records, it's also redefining entertainment. Within the first 20 hours alone, we've seen more than a million Xbox LIVE members come online to play Halo 3 � that makes September 25 the most active Xbox LIVE gaming day in history."
More than 10,000 retailers hosted Midnight Madness events to celebrate the launch of this third installment in the billion-dollar franchise. In New York, Seattle, Miami and Los Angeles, Microsoft and retail partners hosted marquee launch events that featured contests and appearances by local celebrities and professional athletes including Ludacris and Zac Efron and Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates.
More than 1.7 million copies of Halo 3 were preordered in the United States before a single store opened its doors at midnight, Sept. 25, making this the fasting pre-selling game in history, surpassing the previous record-setting pre-sales of Halo 2. The launch of Halo 3 was a worldwide celebration that released in 37 countries and available in 17 languages.
"The initial demand we've seen for Halo 3 has been astounding, and the game is on track to become the number one gaming title of all time. Halo 3 is a genuine entertainment phenomenon and our customers have responded very enthusiastically to the release", said Jill Hamburger, vice president of movies and games at Best Buy.