Halo: Reach hit global sales of over $200 million on its first day, Microsoft revealed in its Tokyo Game Show presentation -- a bigger day-one haul than Halo 3's $170 million, though the latter included only U.S. sales. The game's also been "breaking the franchise record" held by Halo 3 for Xbox Live play, Microsoft corporate vice president Phil Spencer said.
The title, whose narrative concerns the last stand of Noble Team on the doomed planet Reach, is receiving widespread critical acclaim, too, currently holding a very favorable 92 rating on Metacritic.
Reach is already two-thirds of the way toward Halo 3's $300 million week-one performance in September 2007. Microsoft went to lengths to assure Bungie's last game as a member of its organization would have maximum visibility with fans old and new, backing Reach's launch with its biggest game marketing campaign ever.
Cowen analyst Doug Creutz said he expects Halo Reach to sell 3.6 million units in September alone. The title is expected to be a key force in the coming months for the U.S. game industry's efforts to oppose declines in its NPD monthly retail software sales results.
The title also got its own Xbox 360 Slim hardware bundle, with a special silver console and matching branded controllers. A title with Reach's volume can be expected to drive sales of the recently-redesigned Slim Xbox 360 hardware, which has already begun to pick up sales steam over its rival, the PlayStation 3 Slim.
And speaking of the new hardware, the launch hasn't been without its small hiccups, as reports surfaced that owners of the 4GB Xbox 360 Slim have had technical difficulties using Reach's co-op play mode.
[UPDATE: Corrected that Halo 3's figures were U.S. only.]
I like to see comments like this. I've been a fan of all the Halo games, but I was disappointed with ODST. Glad to see Reach brought a truly new experience to the franchise.
Agreed, the campaign feels a lot like playing Halo:CE all those years ago (obviously with current graphics). I didn't like 2 very much at all and was kind of meh with Halo 3, (I skipped ODST) but I've been enjoying single player a lot. After COD multiplayer in the intervening years, its taking me some time to get reaclimated to Halo online.
All I have to say is goddammit Bungie...why would you sign a 10-year deal with Activision-Blizzard for your next project? That makes me so sad. (Obviously, I know why they would do this...but Bungie is actually pretty fair with their pricing models; something I was hoping for in the future.)
This article is factually incorrect. The $170MM day one was US only. The territories included for the $200MM aren't specified, but it is implied to be worldwide. Microsoft didn't say that Halo Reach sales exceeded Halo 3 sales, so I would strongly suspect that it didn't.
It looks like Reuters also got this wrong at first and corrected their story:
Correct me if I'm wrong but I recall Halo 3 very rapidly reaching 10 million sales. It sounds like this won't do that (at least not for a few months) but still very good sales.
It looks like Reuters also got this wrong at first and corrected their story:
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTFD00654020100916