Halo 2 passes out original with 6.4 million sales

Microsoft has announced fresh sales figures for Xbox exclusive first person shooter Halo 2, revealing that the sci-fi sequel has now outsold the original Halo and racked up 6.4 million sales worldwide.

The enormous success of the game, developed by Microsoft-owned studio Bungie, comes mostly from North America, where 4.4 million units have been sold in the USA alone, and pushes the franchise past the 10 million mark.

In fact, the Halo franchise has now sold 12.8 million units overall, counting sales of both Xbox titles and of the first game on the PC - and Halo 2 was the second biggest selling game of the year in the USA in 2004, just behind Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

Crucially for Microsoft, Halo 2 is also helping to drive Xbox users online - the company reports that subscriber figures for Xbox Live have now topped 1.4 million users thanks to no small extent to heavy online activity on Halo 2.