Halo 3 garners $170 million in US first day, breaks records

Why are you anxiously awaiting Japan sales numbers for Halo 3, Joystiq? Looking for more nega-review material? :P

Your headline may be inaccurate.

--Netting-- implies that there is a $170mil profit after all costs have been deducted, possibly including the huge marketing blitz.

The phrase used my MS is --Garnering in sales--. This meaning is somewhat ambiguous, to be sure, but the inclusion of "in sales" seems to imply that it is the --gross-- first day takings not the --net-- first day profit.

I too am interested to see how it's doing in Japan. We've been hearing shit like the game has been on the top 10 list of Amazon Japan and now Famitsu gave it a pretty good score, so it would be interesting to know if it did well in Japan.

Hate to burst your bubble, but MS is giving XBL gold for free to everyone (even if you didn't buy halo 3) for 5 days. So actually, we will see the numbers around monday~wenesday. (depending on when people use their free 48 hr trial.)

I am a big nintendo fan (not a fanboy , I am waiting for the new refresh to get a 360). I congradulate microsoft.

Maybe there marketing can take a trip to nintendo and show them how to do it right. SSBB should be marketed like this.

I feel almost stupid giving congrats to Microsoft and Bungie since I think everyone and their grandmother knew Halo 3 was gonna sell like there was no tomorrow. But CONGRATS to them both, they did a great job on Halo 3.

Did anyone expect Microsoft to say anything but this? We all know it's impossible to prove figures like these, so Microsoft say them regardless.

I seriously doubt it's true...

NOBODY IS INTERESTED OUTSIDE THE US...
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/09/26/halo_3_uk_launch/

I thought that beating the $150 million by Spiderman 3 would be tough, but $170 million? Wow, that's insane. Since there isn't going to be a Halo 4, is anything ever going to beat this record?

$170 million!! lolololololololol...I think with that kind of money...they can and will make a Halo 4! No one is walking away from AT LEAST $100 Million earnings from another sequel!

Gears 2 may beat it, but fornow it's the king. Oh BTW spidermans 155mil is from a weekend not one day :)

I wonder in Nintendo could promote Mario Galaxy like that

Joystiq please do a story about all the unable to read disc errors their is a list on xbox.com forums that has almost 70 people with this problem

http://forums.xbox.com/8/15777156/ShowPost.aspx#15777156

For all the geniuses comparing it to Harry Potter- these figures include only US sales, not foreign.

This is so far from a record for entertainment. Like it is ridiculously far. Like it is so so far it isn't even funny. Lets say that the average price of halo 3 was $65 (due to all the editions of what not). That means they sold about 2,615,385 copies which is really really amazing for a video game. It is a video game record breaker, no doubt about it. Having said that, if it were a movie (with average ticket prices being $6.58) it would have made a little over 17 million dollars. Not that bad for a one day gross, but it would but it 1 million below the opening day from the most disappointing blockbuster from the summer (Rush Hour 3). Like I said, far from amazing for entertainment.

Heard that Halo 3 tv ads costed them $10 million

Damn, Myke is annoying. What else does Ms have with this much hype? What else could they possibly have? Does Sony have anything remotely close to this for the Holiday? No. Will MGS4 approach this level of hype? No way in hell. MS simply has the biggest blockbuster in gaming. Period. Whether one likes the series or not Halo 3 is a juggernaut.

Next year? What has Sony shown for next year? Or this year for that matter? Any exclusives on the level of Bioshock, Halo 3 or Mass Effect? ummmm....Uncharted? I think it'll be a nice game actually but in the end just another release.

Halo 3 is a system seller, plain and simple. Maybe Playstation Home will sell some units this Holiday. Oh, wait...and wait....and wait. After all the great 360 releases this year all I have to do is play them then wait for Gears of War 2 in '08. Keep playing Resistance.

wonder how much they'll have to spend to replace and mail off the scratched limited editions

This is what happens when a game is hyped to shit.

The cool thing in matchmaking is when they show the globe and you see locations where people are playing. Even Australia had it on day 1. Congrats MSFT/Bungie!

yeah breaks records for starting replacing programs..
they must be getting pretty good at it by now ;)

I waited on a line of about 100 people at a local GameCrazy and there were plenty of people there that were waiting for this game to get a 360. I cant wait to see the number of 360's sold this month.

I have Halo 3 too (it rocks) but I hope GTA IV garners 200 million cause GTA + Next Gen Blood= teh rulez

man this game's campaing owned

The limited did NOT come with a live trial. All of my friends bought the limited, and one got the legendary, and NONE of us got a trial.


On the note of lines, we had almost 40 people line up at the walmart where I work, and we still have tons of copies left.

LMAO to all the haters that try to spin such good news for M$ and 360 gamers.. But lets get back to reality..

HALO3 rules, period.

Yeah, I know... the SDF is sick to their stomaches knowing damn well that MGS4 or any PS3 game for that matter wont and cant do what HALO3 just did!

Wait till we get the news on how many more 360's were sold... Wow.

At last, the ApocalyPS3 For Sony and the SDF has begun.

Wow! A game that cost $60 to $120 made broke movie record where it cost $5.50 to $12.50 to see a movie! Who would have thought?!?!

For the person who posted the link that only the US care about Hal0 3, I believe he needs to find more sources. Here is a link that says most retailers in Europe are selling out and that Halo 3 is breaking sales records overseas

http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=84256

Good lord, thank god there's something to bury that Spiderman 3 movie.

From the New York Times:

"In its first 24 hours on sale, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” the seventh and final installment in the wildly popular series by J.K. Rowling that officially went on sale at 12:01 a.m. Saturday, sold a record 8.3 million copies in the United States, according to Scholastic Inc., the book’s publisher...Many of the books sold are priced at a substantial discount. Barnes & Noble, for example, is selling “Deathly Hallows” at 40 percent off the $34.99 cover price, or $20.99. Amazon.com is selling it for $17.99. The estimate of first-day sales indicates that at an average selling price of about $20, Americans spent nearly $170 million for the book in one day. Many booksellers will make only slim profits on the book’s sales."

Emphasize that word "estimate." All we know about Harry's first day is that grossed somewhere between $170 and $250m in the U.S. alone. We also know that Harry outsold Halo by almost 7 million copies.

But still, kudos to Halo 3. The gaming industry has needed a bona fide hit and Microsoft has provided one. They should've had Master Chief host this weekend's premiere of SNL.

JET

Like zwarrior I wonder just WHAT Nintendo will do to advertise Super Smash Bros Brawl.

Despite all the sony fanboys and their hating Halo 3 marketing campaign was awesome and it achieved basically everything it probably wanted to achieve.

Nintendo really needs to step up its game if it wants Brawl to do as well if not better than Halo 3.

And the whole "Online" thing isn't helping things out...Friend Codes are stupid.

May 24:

"Industry analysts Goldman-Sachs are estimating that with this epic conclusion will come epic sales — grossing well near $170 million in the first available quarter."

First quarter? FIRST DAY!

So who won the Pontiac G6?

Master Chief on SNL...

He barely talks anyway, would have worked perfectly in their skits.

Wow....$170 million, that is more than I expected on 24 hour sales. I don't see how Super Smash Bros could touch Halo 3's sales. I am not bashing SSB..it is a blast to play. I just can't imagine it getting the hype or sales of this game. I don't know anybody waiting to buy a wii for SSB (that is just me though), but I know plenty buying a 360 for Halo 3. Either way, great job on a phenomenal game Bungie! I am not disapointed. I finally played with Forge and the Theater options yesterday...they are fucking sick!! I don't think I will ever get bored with Halo 3..ever!!
We spent over an hour replaying a video yesterday, it is so cool being able to slow and stop the action. I love seeing the explosions and particles in the air. AMAZING!!

@ Vinny


Is that it?

Dude, what are you talking about?

I'm happy that you guys have HALO3... Now, that the series is over, you Xbots dont have anything else (don't even think about naming "HALO WARS)! Face it! Next year doesnt look bright for you guys. The only game I WAS interested in for 360 is NG2, but M$ had to buy the game rights to keep it an exclusive (graphics dont look any different than SIGMA)!
You can have HALO3, it's only a $60, $70, or $130 w/ a helmet having multiplayer game (dont kid yourself). All of you arrogant 360 fans will have a rude awakening when HALO3 dies down. Or will M$ will try to make HALO3 current later on by having scrathing discs so dumb people can re-buy them?

Oh yeah, they already have!!!!

That's impressive no matter what your favorite console is.