Halo Reach

Halo Reach went on sale worldwide on September 14. As the defining brand of the Xbox consoles, it's no surprise that in the first 24 hours Microsoft has confirmed that US plus Europe sales were a combined $200 million. Given the starting price of $60 for standard copies and then higher prices for collectors editions, legendary editions, ultra epic editions, 2 Brutes 1 Spartan editions, the general consensus is that this represents around 3million units in a day. And on one platform. The last mega blockbuster like this was Modern Warfare 2 that released Nov 10, 2009. Back on Nov 11 Activision confirmed MW2 sold 1.2 million units in the UK alone in the first day (cross platform). The US + Europe total was estimated around $500 million in sales for the equivalent period. So no, Halo Reach might not be as big as Modern Warfare 2 obviously, and it might not be as big as Modern Warfare 2 on Xbox 360 alone. But so what. I'm not exactly a big Halo fan, but it is nice to see that one of the few games this year expected to be blockbuster actually become a blockbuster. It certainly won't save the US retail component of the overall industry from its likely full year decline vs. 2009, but it is definitely welcome news that the game has sold well.

For me, I got a copy and while it does look and feel like past Halo games, somehow this is my favorite of all them.