Halo 4 the largest Halo launch ever in Australia: Microsoft

The latest adventure of Master Chief also becomes largest Xbox game launch of 2012

Halo 4 may have achieved the global milestone of generating US$220 million in 24 hours, but the game has also managed to set a pair of records in Australia.

In its first week in Australia, Halo 4 has become the largest ever Halo launch for publisher Microsoft.

The company also says Halo 4 has become the largest local Xbox game launch of 2012.

The achievements, both in Australia and worldwide, no doubt comes as good news to Microsoft, which invested heavily into the development of Halo 4 to make it the most expensive game to come from the company.

Halo 4 also had high expectations riding on it due to the departure of long-time Halo developer, Bungie, and relatively untested and unknown first party outfit, 343 Industries, taking up development duties instead.

While the release of Halo 4 brought over US$300 million in global sales in its first week, Microsoft says the achievement eclipses the biggest movie launch in U.S. box office history

Microsoft Studios corporate vice president, Phil Spencer, contrasts the US$220 million Halo 4 garnered worldwide in the first 24 hours of its release, which is more than the biggest day one opening in US box office history, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, and the biggest movie of 2012, The Avengers, based on U.S. sales alone.

“We’re thrilled that Halo 4 has emerged as the biggest US entertainment launch of the year,” Spencer said.

“Thanks to the millions of fans worldwide who helped make this another record-breaking launch for the Halo franchise, Halo 4 is kicking off a strong holiday season and has become the must have blockbuster experience of the year.”

Hail to the Chief

The success of Halo 4 has meant the lifetime sales of the Halo franchise comes to over US$3.38 billion, making it one of the most popular entertainment franchises in the world.

In addition to the pedigree of the decade old franchise, Halo 4 has garnered near universal acclaim as one of the top rated video games of 2012, and PC World also found it to be a significant addition and improvement to the series.

The positive acceptance of Halo 4 follows on the strong performance of the video game industry as a whole, with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 achieving the US$1 billion mark in sales following its release last year.

As Microsoft is doing with Halo 4, Activision Blizzard contrasted the sales of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 with an earlier record set by a major motion picture, namely James Cameron’s 2009 film, Avatar.

Sega famously compared the then successful launch of its Dreamcast console in 1999, which generated US$98.4 million in combined hardware and software sales, to the box office taking of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace.

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Tags XBox 360haloModern Warfare 2Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary

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Patrick Budmar

Patrick Budmar

PC World
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