Halo 3 Sells $300 Million in First Week

Halo 3 continues to set new records for videogame sales, earning over $300 million in its first week of release and giving a much-needed boost to Xbox 360 sales.

That mark follows its record-setting first-day sales total of $170 million, and continues the game's run as the fastest-selling videogame of all time. The game is also seeing unprecedented levels of play on Xbox Live, with more than 2.7 million members playing the game online in the first week alone, representing 40 million hours of gameplay. Nearly 30 million achievements have been unlocked, and Microsoft is reporting "hundreds of thousands" of new Gold Membership subscriptions since Halo 3 was released.

"Halo is truly a cultural phenomenon, and the launch of Halo 3 is an important milestone for Xbox 360 and for videogames as entertainment and as an art form," said Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates. "Halo 3 embodies our vision for the future of entertainment, where some of the world's greatest creative minds will deliver a new generation of interactive storytelling."

Retailers are also reporting that worldwide console sales have more than doubled their weekly average prior to the Halo 3 launch. The game, which dominated not only other videogames with its launch but also all previous movie and book launches as well, also set a record as the fastest pre-selling game of all time, with over 1.7 million Halo 3 preorders reported in the U.S. alone.

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That actually didn't surprise me. With the preorder surge you noted and the advertising campaign, I expected Halo 3 to run up the revenue ladder this quickly. I almost bet someone that it'd sell 3 million copies in the first week, too. (Pity I chickened out.)

What does surprise me is the blip in Japan, where Halo 3 managed to bubble past Pokemon and Final Fantasy into first place last week. I thought it'd make the top five, perhaps, but at no time did I think it'd hit #1. If it manages to stay in the top 5 next week I'll be seriously impressed.

It'll also be interesting to see if the hardware sales bubble will last, as Microsoft must so dearly hope.

-- Steve

That it made gobs of money quickly doesn't surprise me. That it made three hundred megabucks in one week surprises me a little bit. However, what surprises me most is how well it did in Japan.