Halo 3 sets US entertainment record

Microsoft has announced that Halo 3 has officially become the biggest entertainment launch in history, garnering an estimated $170 million in sales in the US alone in the first 24 hours.

"Halo 3 has become a pop-culture phenomenon," said Shane Kim, corporate vice president of Microsoft Game Studios. "Not only is Halo 3 setting sales records, it's also redefining entertainment."

"Within the first 20 hours alone, we've seen more than a million Xbox LIVE members come online to play Halo 3 — that makes September 25 the most active Xbox LIVE gaming day in history."

Bob McKenzie, senior vice president of merchandising for GameStop 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 weâve 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.

The Xbox 360 game beat previous records set by blockbuster theatrical releases like Spider-man 3 and novels such as Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, though that is hardly surprising given the fact that the cheapest copy of the game retails for USD 59.99, which is much more than the cost of a movie ticket or book.

As previously reported, more than 1.7 million copies of Halo 3 were pre-ordered in the United States, making it the fasting pre-selling game in history, surpassing the previous record set by Halo 2.