Halo sales hit 46 million

Microsoft parses statistics for its sci-fi shooter on eve of Halo 4 launch next week; more than 5 billion hours played on Xbox Live.

The Halo franchise is one of Microsoft's crown jewels, and now the company has revealed just how lucrative the series has been. Since launch in 2001, gamers have purchased more than 46 million Halo games, driving nearly $3 billion in revenue, Microsoft announced today.

Microsoft went on to break down the launches of past entries in the franchise, stating first-day sales of Halo 2 hit $125 million, with Halo 3 notching $170 during its first day, and Halo: Reach besting that game with more than $200 million in sales during its first 24 hours.

Halo 4 is due out next week for Xbox 360. It is the first numbered entry in the series developed outside Bungie Studios, and Microsoft spent more money developing that game than any other title in the company's history.

In all, more than 5 billion hours of Halo have been played while connected to Xbox Live. The last official tally of Halo popularity came from Bungie earlier this year. The developer released an infographic revealing gamers had played 20 billion games and racked up more than 100,000,000,000 total kills across Halo 2, Halo 3, Halo 3: ODST, and Halo: Reach.

Eddie Makuch
By Eddie Makuch, News Editor

Eddie Makuch (Mack-ooh) is a News Editor at GameSpot. He lives in Connecticut, works out of the company's New York City office, and loves extra chunky peanut butter.

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kennythomas26 103 pts

Well come on Tuesday or maybe the midnight release, so I can play this already.

GamerMani 34 pts

only four shooting franchises are ruling the entire gaming world (Multiplayer mode)

1) HALO

2) COD

3) BATTLEFIELD

4) MASSEFFECT

Ferg1213 75 pts

 GamerMani Umm Gears of War

kennythomas26 103 pts

 Ferg1213  GamerMani yeah he forgot to mention Gears of War 1,2,3 and I really do not see ME MP being any where near the top of the list. AC: Brotherhood, AC: Revelstions and now AC3, and I don't maybe Rainbow 6: Vegas 2.

tightwad34 515 pts

Microsoft parses statistics.... Never seen or heard the word parses. I am pretty sure I figured out what it means based on the text, but just to be sure, what is it?

vicsrealms 192 pts

They would sell more if they finished the series on the PC!!

steelmouth 190 pts

and here comes the hype train

tightwad34 515 pts

 steelmouth

 I am not a Halo fan at all, but I will say ACIII was probably the most hyped game I can remember and it's doing all right, while Halo 4 didn't get half the hype of it and it seems the consensus is a lot better, at least for now.

artisticg33k23 10 pts

 tightwad34  steelmouth That's pretty hard to say when Halo 4 gets its own live-action short series as an introduction.

CivilizedPsycho 130 pts

I wonder what the exact cost of production is for Halo 4.  People are speculating that it is well above $100 million, not including promotions and advertising.  Regardless of how much they've spent, they will definitely make that back in profit and then some.

steelmouth 190 pts

 CivilizedPsycho they have made it all back already with pre-orders every cent from next week is all profit and goes to bill gates wallet

 
Spartan_418 1143 pts

 steelmouth Bill Gates isn't CEO of Microsoft anymore, but yes, some of it will. 

Spartan_418 1143 pts

I'm fairly confident that Halo 4 will live up to Bungie's titles, I have the LE pre-ordered and am expecting it to be better than Reach at least. Won't know for certain until we've played it, though.

 

The multiplayer is a pretty sure bet, we know a lot about it and have seen tons of footage. The campaign could be great, I wouldn't be surprised if it is, but we just haven't seen very much of it yet. 

vault-boy 613 pts

Really looking forward to the campaign! The story is getting a lot of notice it seems and I really hope that they put as much into it as they said they did. With any luck it's going to be nice, lengthy campaign with a great story and awesome gameplay. This is a big deal for Microsoft and 343, and its almost time for them to show the world what they've got. 

CivilizedPsycho 130 pts

Where did all these numbers come from?  I feel like I'm in the Matrix!

Spartan_418 1143 pts

 CivilizedPsycho Was a bit surprised to see that Reach exceeded Halo 3's launch numbers. Reach's marketing campaign and launch seemed more subdued than Halo 3's, from what I remember.

CivilizedPsycho 130 pts

 Spartan_418  CivilizedPsycho

 
CivilizedPsycho 130 pts

 Spartan_418

 Yeah that's true.  It's probably because of the fact that with each Halo title released, the fanbase increases and as a result so do the sales.

vault-boy 613 pts

 DarthLod Every time I see you here you just seem to bitch bitch bitch!

Spartan_418 1143 pts

 DarthLod "Milk" only applies if the quality of a series is actually declining, and Halo's quality, in my opinion, isn't.Reach haters will say otherwise, of course.

Dinostrich 27 pts

I hope this game is done right.  Judging from what I've seen it has been.  But I will hold my judgement until the game comes out.  Reach, for me, was a step back and to the side.  Halo 3 I played religiously and Reach's campaign/multiplayer just did not cut it for me.  This looks like it will put Halo on the map again; hopefully I will be playing Halo religiously again. 

Brakkyn 45 pts

SPAZ.  I had no idea this game was so close to release.  I hadn't seen "alot" of stuff about it.  Maybe I wasn't paying attention.  I can't play it anyway, but looking forward to this release.

ArtickF8 16 pts

Xbox 360 + Halo > Everything else.

SqueakierShip87 13 pts

LOLZ....played so much of this game...

Ferg1213 75 pts

SO DAMN READY FOR THIS! Just ordered a 120gb HDD finally.. primarily so I can install Halo and never leave my house.

jayjay444 284 pts

 Ferg1213 time to get off work for a week, get loads of munchies, get the special edition halo and have one hell of a week...... god i sound like a nerd but i dont give a fuck. its halo after all lol. 

jayjay444 284 pts

P.S my gf isnt going to be happy she's being ignored for a week.......... cool:)

bmart970 125 pts

You know that's right. Halo all the way!

Flint247 483 pts

Halo 4 is going to be fun. :)

SolidTy 1356 pts

I hope new developer 343 can deliver what people expect.

Mabrry 41 pts

Great looking game, great series, great everything. I can't wait to start up Halo 4 with a bunch of buds monday night!

ArtickF8 16 pts

 MabrryTechnically, it'll be Tuesday morning... But who gives a fuck :)

 
MeatWood89 17 pts

The only reason CoD has more sales is cause its multi platform. If halo was then if would out sell CoD, but the sales of halo have always been more the CoD(on xbox alone)

Vatusus 34 pts

 MeatWood89 Thats actually worng. CoD: MW3 sold more on xbox360 alone then Halo 3 or Halo Reach. Its also more played online then Halo on the xbox360. I believe even FIFA is more played then Halo. This series is great but the constant milking is making people loose the interest, me included. I'm tired of Halo just as I'm tired of CoD or every other FPS out there

bmart970 125 pts

 Vatusus  MeatWood89 I'm not necessarily arguing with you, but the sales for both Halo and (unfortunately) CoD are still both going up.

ArtickF8 16 pts

 Vatusus  MeatWood89

 Halo > COD

PSYCHOV3N0M 117 pts

 Vatusus  MeatWood89 Constant milking? Halo? Learn your release years before you post lies.

Spartan_418 1143 pts

 PSYCHOV3N0M He kinda-sorta has a point, there's been a new Halo game released every year since 2009 now.

 

However, I don't think it's had a negative effect on the quality of the games. CE Anniversary barely counts since it's a purely graphical remake, and Halo 4 has been in development for a long time now, overlapping with both ODST and Reach. 

GamerMani 34 pts

 MeatWood89

just consider CODsale of xbox360 it is greater than halo but i love halo

demonkingx5 281 pts

now compare that to the Cod series & no im not a cod fanboy 

Ferg1213 75 pts

 demonkingx5 Yeah.. but fuck CoD :) True gamers can appreciate a good game that people have put a lot of effort in to.

vault-boy 613 pts

 demonkingx5 Not to mention Halo is only on Xbox (well, the first two had PC ports but only the first got moderately popular) so you have to put it in perspective. Lets just say this, Halo 3 sold 11.5 million copies. CoD:MW2 had about 25 million sales and that was on PC, Wii, Xbox and PS3. Little perspective for you right there.

ecurl143 107 pts

Those are some pretty impressive sales figures.

That is one hell of a franchise.

Hellhound30x 218 pts

Call of what? ITS ALL ABOUT HALO 4 when it hits! 343 don't fail me now!

Lord_Sesshy 73 pts

Next Couple of Days - Activision releases it's CoD sales....I really hope Halo 4 takes them down a notch or two so they realise you can't just keep copy and pasting your games.

Defy_The_Fallen 75 pts

 Lord_Sesshy You read my mind sir. Some people thought it would be bad for Halo to come out within the same month, even fortnight as Call of Duty, I believe it's a good move to show Activision that they really need to either step it up a notch or just can the franchise altogether. 

vault-boy 613 pts

 Lord_Sesshy Call of Duty will outsell Halo 4 without a doubt, BUT Call of Duty is playable on every electronic from the Xbox to your fucking microwave (well to be honest, 5 consoles with BO: Declassified). So get the BO:2 sales, divide it by 5 and Halo will be double that, bet you not.

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