"Halo 3" creates new opening day record
{{date|September 27, 2007}}
[[Image:Halo3LaunchInNYC ShaneKim MasterChief.jpg|thumb|right|Shane Kim and "Master Chief" at the launch at a Best Buy Store, Manhattan, New York. {{image source|[http://www.flickr.com/people/gamerscore/ Gamerscore Blog]}}]]
The long awaited finale in the [[w:Halo (series)|"Halo"]] series, [[w:Halo 3|"Halo 3"]], has beaten the previous record of opening day sales held by "Spiderman 3" of [[w:US$|US$]]151 million. In the [[United States]], "Halo 3" got $170 million worth of retail sales in the opening day alone.

The game by [[w:Bungie Studios|Bungie Studios]] is available in 37 countries, which means the exact opening day figure will be much higher.

More than one million [[w:Xbox Live|Xbox Live]] subscribers logged on to play "Halo 3" against each other over the Internet in the first 20 hours of launch, according to [[w:Microsoft Game Studios|Microsoft Game Studio's]] corporate Vice-President, Shane Kim.

In comparison, [[w:Halo 2|"Halo 2"]], only sold $125 million on its first day of retail sales back in 2004. The first two "Halo" games have sold a combined total of 15 million copies.

It has been reported that Microsoft spent millions of dollars on marketing the third installment of the popular "Halo" series.

"Halo 3" was launched on September 25 at midnight in each time zone, [[New Zealand]] being the first country to play the game, followed by [[Australia]].

{{haveyoursay}}
== Related news ==
*{{Wikinews|title=Microsoft launches Xbox360 Game "Halo 3" World-wide|date=September 26, 2007}}

== Sources ==
*{{source|url=http://investing.reuters.co.uk/news/articleinvesting.aspx?type=tnBusinessNews&storyID=2007-09-26T235810Z_01_N26265175_RTRIDST_0_BUSINESS-HALO-FIRSTDAY-DC.XML
|title=Microsoft "Halo 3" 1st-day sales hit $170 million
|author=Peter Henderson
|pub=Reuters
|date=September 27, 2007}}
*{{source|url=http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fi-halo27sep27,1,124140.story?coll=la-headlines-technology&ctrack=1&cset=true
|title='Halo 3' video game smashes sales records
|author=Alex Pham
|pub=Los Angeles Times
|date=September 26, 2007}}
*{{source|url=http://www.stuff.co.nz/4214318a28.html
|title=Kiwis first in line for Halo 3
|author=Reuters and Fairfax Media
|pub=Stuff
|date=September 25, 2007}}

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[[Category:Culture and entertainment]]
[[Category:Microsoft]]
[[Category:Games]]
[[Category:Economy and business]]
[[Category:Oceania]]
[[Category:New Zealand]]
[[Category:Australia]]
[[Category:North America]]
[[Category:United States]]
Shane Kim and "Master Chief" at the launch at a Best Buy Store, Manhattan, New York. 
The long awaited finale in the "Halo" series, "Halo 3", has beaten the previous record of opening day sales held by "Spiderman 3" of US$151 million. In the United States, "Halo 3" got $170 million worth of retail sales in the opening day alone.

The game by Bungie Studios is available in 37 countries, which means the exact opening day figure will be much higher.

More than one million Xbox Live subscribers logged on to play "Halo 3" against each other over the Internet in the first 20 hours of launch, according to Microsoft Game Studio's corporate Vice-President, Shane Kim.

In comparison, "Halo 2", only sold $125 million on its first day of retail sales back in 2004. The first two "Halo" games have sold a combined total of 15 million copies.

It has been reported that Microsoft spent millions of dollars on marketing the third installment of the popular "Halo" series.

"Halo 3" was launched on September 25 at midnight in each time zone, New Zealand being the first country to play the game, followed by Australia.
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