Press Release: Halo 2 Marks the Biggest 24 Hours in Entertainment Retail History with $125 Million in Sales

Halo 2 broke entertainment retail records in its first 24 hours on store shelves. Microsoft Game Studios today announced that the highly-anticipated game sold through 2.4 million units in the U.S. and Canada, driving cash register receipts to the $125 million mark.

"EB Games had a record-breaking day as gamers across the country lined up for hours to be one of the first to get their hands on Halo 2 on November 9," said Jeff Griffiths, president and CEO of EB Games. "The Halo 2 frenzy, anticipation and excitement felt throughout the country prove that Halo 2 has become more than a game - it's a pop cultural phenomenon."

"Halo 2 has blown the roof off of any other sales day in the history of GameStop," said Dan Dematteo, president and chief operating officer at GameStop. "In just one day, we sold more than half a million copies of Halo 2 - more than any other game in history in its first day of release. Halo 2 has become more than a pop culture phenomena - it's become a pop culture frenzy."

Not only has Halo 2 exceeded video game sales records, but entertainment records as well. Halo 2 has generated more money on day one than any of the biggest movies in box office history including Spider-Man 2 (Sony), Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (WB) and The Matrix Reloaded (WB).* In addition, Halo 2 surpassed this past weekend's box office favorite, "The Incredibles," which grossed $70.5 million (U.S.) in three days compared to the $125 million pulled through by "Halo 2" in one day.

"The first 24 hours of Halo 2 sales have taken our breath away," said Peter Moore, Corporate Vice President, Worldwide Marketing and Publishing, Xbox. "Across North America, 2.4 million copies of the game were sold through, representing $125 million in total cash register receipts for retailers. It's no longer just a huge game for us but has become a seminal milestone for the entire industry."

Halo 2 will expand on everything that made the original game great, plus add a wealth of technological and gameplay advances. Significantly improved graphics, enhanced artificial intelligence (AI), an advanced real-time lighting engine and destructible interactive environments are just a small part of Halo 2's evolution of design and technology. Every improvement in Halo 2 is designed to take gameplay to a new level - and in the end, to tell a more compelling story.

Utilizing Xbox Live to redefine online play, Halo 2 delivers superior online multiplayer capabilities. Whether playing with a clan on a new multiplayer map, boarding a friend's Warthog, dogfighting in Banshees or checking player stats, Halo 2 will bring the social experience to a higher level via Xbox Live.

More information about Halo 2 is available at http://www.halo2.com/.

Bungie was founded in 1991 with two goals: to develop games that combine brilliant technology, beautiful art, intelligent stories and deep gameplay, and then sell enough of those games to achieve the real goal of total world domination.

Over the past 10 years it produced games like the "Marathon Trilogy" and the first two "Myth" games, hailed as classics by critics and gamers around the world. Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo 2 have achieved phenomenal success on the Microsoft Xbox video game system. More information on Bungie can be found at http://www.bungie.net/.

Microsoft Game Studios is a leading worldwide publisher and developer of games for the Xbox® video game system and Windows® and online platforms. Comprising a network of top developers, Microsoft Game Studios is committed to creating innovative and diverse games for Windows (http://www.microsoft.com/games/), including such franchises as Age of Empires®, Flight Simulator and Zoo Tycoon^TM; Xbox (http://www.xbox.com/), including such franchises as Halo®, Project Gotham Racing and Fable; and Zone.com (http://www.zone.com/), the official games channel for the MSN® network and home to such hits as Bejeweled and OutSmart^TM.