Microsoft has announced that Halo 3 has become the biggest entertainment launch in history, earning an estimated $170 million in sales in the US in the first 24 hours. The Xbox 360 exclusive overtook the blockbuster movie release of Spiderman 3 and the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows novel.

Redefining entertainment

“Halo 3 has become a pop-culture phenomenon,” said Neil Thomson, Senior Regional Director, Entertainment and Devices Division, Microsoft UK. “Not only is ‘Halo 3’ setting sales records, it’s also redefining entertainment. Within the first 24 hours alone, we’ve seen more than a million Xbox LIVE members worldwide come online to play Halo 3 – that makes September 25 the most active Xbox LIVE gaming day in history.”

Retailers have been very happy with the sales so far. Bob McKenzie, Senior Vice President of Merchandising for GameStop Corp commented that, “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.

Earning accolades along the way

Halo 3 concludes the Halo trilogy and brings fans up to speed on Master Chief and Cortana’s fate as they struggle to save humankind from the alien Covenant. For many the Xbox Live aspect of the game is its biggest drawcard but the game also features a Saved Films feature where gamers can save moments of the game as well as a map editor called Forge that enables players to customize the game.

More than 1.7 million copies of the game were pre-ordered in the US, earning it the title of fastest pre-selling game in history from its predecessor, Halo 2. Over 10 000 retailers in the US hosted midnight events to mark the launch on the 25th of September. Halo 3 has been released in 37 countries and 17 languages to date.