Kerching! Halo 3 rakes in 'record' takings

Halo 3 achieved record US sales of $170m (£83.6m/€119.8) within its first 24 hours on sale, Microsoft claimed today, boasting the figure makes its game the "biggest entertainment launch in history", eclipsing records set by the Spider-man 3 and Harry Potter movies. Bill_Gates_Halo3_launch Bill Gates, software sales …

[Shinobi87]

whatever

i liked halo, i semi liked halo 2 i really wanted to complete the story but im not forking out for a 360 like most people. As far as im aware its sold naff all in the uk and most people are uninpressed. also why has bill gates got the worst fake tan ever, take a longer look at his face you can see the blotches where his hairline is!

[Konstantinos]

God among men..

The picture of Bill hand shaking with the sales man depicts a God to Mere Mortal relation.

[A. Merkin]

New Math

Longer Delays = More Preorders = Higher "First Day" sales?

[Anonymous Coward]

Enjoy it while it lasts...

As well as this has sold, no doubt the next Grand Theft Auto game will sell loads more - particularly as it'll be available on both PS3 and Xbox 360. So Microsoft have probably only got about 6 months to enjoy this record...

[SpitefulGOD]

@Shinobi87

Looks like your saving your money or that ueless AppleTV and shitty iPhone! You tit, stop looking at bill's tan and check out that huge $30 billion he donates to charity, just like steve jobs right.... right? errr no

[Tawakalna]

if Gates is a "god"..

..then he's a pretty rubbish one whose "divine works" tend not to work very well at all. I s'pose he needs all the Halo 3 sales to pay for all the duff XBox 360s his rotten firm have to fix.

[Anonymous Coward]

As an older gamer

I like Halo 3, even though I can't quite focus on the details.

The methods of play and the chalenges are realy well thought out so far. I have read reviews that the standard drops as you progress but so far on the Normal setting of difficulty the game is a perfect challenge of getting annoyed and getting that hit as per WorldOW , Tetris etc.

I reckon it is worth the money, and I disliked BioShock which I bought on steam if that helps.

[Anonymous Coward]

considering

no-one actually turned up to the massive launch that was expected, at least in the uk, one has to wonder if all of these copies are actually in users homes, or sat in a storeroom somewhere in a games shop who expected to be sold out on the first night. unless these 'sales' figures explicitly state that they are end user sales, they are usually based on units shipped to stores rather than any meaningful sales figure.

£83million is approx 2million copies, if 1.7million copies were preordered in the US that actually leaves very remarkably few that have been sold anywhere else.

[Dale]

And..

haha yeah it's the new math and the fact that when you only have 1 decent flagship title for your system of course everyone with said system will buy it! They have nothing else to play! haha

[Greg]

Halo...

Halo was one of the most appalling FPS games I've ever played. Since that, I haven't given the rest of the trilogy the time of day, and it's unlikely I will. The last game video of Halo 3 I saw looked a lot like Halo 1, so I'm staying away.

Can't understand why people like this crap so much. Is Half Life 2 on the 360?

[Gareth Irwin]

I don't get it.

Halo was a game where you went along a ways then had to come all the way back, it was so repetitive as to be depressing. I obviously missed something fundamental to the whole thing.

[Anonymous Coward]

So what...

So it makes a lot of money at release purely because they count all the pre-sales as sales in the first 24 hours.

When it reaches just under $1billion in 4 months then it will be news - until then its just Microsoft puff.

[Simn Lovatt]

Christ...

The Register has some of the most miserable readers on the planet!

Maybe people should spend less of their time hating Microsoft posting comments with witticisms like "M$" or "Microshaft" and more time enjoying their lives?

...and no. I didn't enjoy Halo 2 all that much, but what a bunch of whiney-pissy comments!

[Anonymous Coward]

@Simn

Pot. Kettle. Black.

[Anonymous Coward]

@ SpitefulGOD

Microsoft called..they what their village idiot back.

Seriously..how'd you get apple TV and iPhone out of the first comment posted?

Nevermind that...how'd you end up in THIS thread? This is about Halo 3!

I Agree with Mr. Vulture here.... sad readers the reg attracts.

I Think halo 3 is a bunch of hot air...give it a month..its gonna get quieter... as the say goes...there's always a bigger fish.

And its a biiiiiiig ocean.

[SpitefulGOD]

@Anonymous

I don't like Apple :( and I never will while all those fruit fueled leetist barstools slag off a great business like Microsoft, and I agree that's my Issue so sorry for the rant and I'll see you on the battlefield sometime chief.

[Paul]

I've altered my genes waiting...

Halo sux! How long will that Red Faction corporate clip art dude keep you fake techies enthralled? Go study yer OOP languages or play a "real man's" game like Red Faction I. Now I want to be a genetically altered supersoldier...GTA sux too! Ha ha ha ha ha. Get a LIFE!!!!!

[the Jim bloke]

saw it running in a shop window display

and my first thought was they were running an early Doom/Quake conversion..

It honestly looked that primitive.

[Konstantinos]

@ Tawakalna

Well...

If our own "gods" had to pay for all the "broken" human there is they would certaintly go bankrupt in no time :)

[Shinobi87]

@SpitefulGOD

no mate i don't own a single apple product,never have. i dont want an iphone or a mac or any of that crap. where did you even get that from? did you think a generic apple or linux abuse would work on everyone, because it's just failed and made you look like a rather big fool. i save my money for more useful things or ones that are actually affordable, why on earth would i want to pay for what is essentially a low spec pc but costs about 8x more and games that cost about $40. think ill stick to my pc and my wii (if any decent online games ever come out for it) now go suck on a lemon you mockery of a man!

[Alistair MacRae]

Awesome Game

Whilst I didn't think much of the main story I really do enjoy the multiplayer.

Played it with 7 of my friends on Sunday and it was fantastic entertainment.

As for the "selling in 24 hours" does the UK count in that because if not America released it the day before, there may be some cross over but not much which would explain the suspected poor sales in the uk

[Julian Cook]

am i just missing the point

I am not going to bash the 360 because it is the best gaming console out today. I know that the ps3 is faster and bigger, but it kind of misses the point and not that good.

Now I love first person shooters but Halo x just seams odd and wrong. It may be the viewpoint or the stupid colours they use but it really is not that good.

As for the comment about Red Faction, very poor on all levels.

In short you want to play a first person shooter on the 360 get Gears of War, if you have finished that go back and have a look at Quake 4 and wait for Quake to be releases on XBOX live. If you have a ps3 then mothball it like me in the hope that home is done right and for the day that a game of note is released. For all others just wait for the killer game (hopefully) released later this month on Arcade Speedball 2

[Alistair MacRae]

RE: Julian Cook

In short you want to play a first person shooter on the 360 get Gears of War

Gears of war isn't a first person shooter its a... third person shooter.

PS3 is not faster than the xbox360

Halo is a very good game. Game sales reflect this.

I'm not sure what you people are doing with your halo games or if you trully have played them but it the worlds best selling FPS

It may not be as refined as UT games or Quake. But it is a very easy to control game considering its on a console and not a PC. No other FPS works as well