Halo 2 Launches in UK, US Success

Retail frenzy in UK as US takes $125m.

Following the North American launch of the game on Tuesday, Halo 2 has officially been released to a frenzied audience in the UK. Retailers across the country report strong pre-orders for the game, which is widely believed to be the most important title for the Xbox since its launch in 2000.

Meanwhile, the North American release of Halo 2 has gone even better than optimists were expecting.

Microsoft's Peter Moore stated on Tuesday that the company was expecting a $100 million take for the day, a forecast echoed by Microsoft president Bill Gates.

On Wednesday, though, Microsoft upped its estimates, saying that 2.38 million copies of Halo 2 had been sold in the first 24 hours, earning an estimated $125 million.

This would make the release of Halo 2 the biggest one-day take for an entertainment release in history - surpassing even Hollywood's highest-grossing films.

The launch of Halo 2 comes just two weeks after Rockstar smashed all sales records in the UK with the release of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

Rockstar's action game sold 670,000 copies in the UK in its first two days, and went on to move over a million copies within nine days.

Although the installed hardware base of Xbox is significantly smaller than that of PlayStation 2, it is expected that Halo 2 could challenge the recently broken sales records.

Halo 2 for Xbox is on sale in the UK now in both regular and limited edition variants.

Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo Games