Halo 3 almost triples opening day sales of Spiderman 3

Mike Bantick
Thursday, 27 September 2007 05:32

Your IT - Entertainment

Halo 3, as expected has smashed launch day records, notching up over US$170 million in the U.S alone.  In comparison Hollywood blockbusters are mere blips on Cortana’s radar.

In the first 24 hours of its retail life, Halo 3 has reached an estimated US$170 million in U.S sales.

By comparison Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith garnered US$50 million, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest ravaged US$55 million and Spider-Man 3 webbed US$59 million in their respective U.S. box office opening days.

“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.”

Bob McKenzie, Senior Vice President of Merchandising for GameStop Corp said, “With consumer demand for Halo 3 and related products, we expect it to be the biggest video-game title generator in GameStop's history."

"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.

So retailers are happy, gamers seem to be happy.  Even the usual puritanical U.S media seem to be happy, with Microsoft’s bombardment of advertising prior to the Halo 3 launch; there has not been the normal knee-jerk anti-violent-gaming government response. 

It seems that success and money equal a smooth ride for one title over another, either way, the gaming renaissance continues.