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Halo at 4 million preorders on GameStop/EBGames?

S

Spider_Jerusalem

Member
Lock if old, OMG if true:

From Xbox Evolved

According to Gamestop officials, over four million preorders have been made for Halo 3 on Xbox 360. Xbox Evolved has verified this information at five different Greater Cincinnati Gamestop locations, including Gamestop stores, EB Games stores, and Funcoland stores, all under the same umbrella. This information was verified at all locations, however company a document showing this information was not revealed.

In the coming months, if this information is verified this would be the most preordered videogame of all time. Many of Gamestop’s employees believe that a large portion of the preorders are being made by consumers that don’t even own a Xbox 360, that are just waiting for the price of the system to go down.

In comparison, Grand Theft Auto IV’s combined PS3 and 360 preorders at the chain of stores comes in a very distant second. Microsoft reported three weeks before the release of Halo 2 in 2004 that the combined retail outlet preorders for the title was 1.5 million, which at the time was a record in itself. Gears of War, the best-selling title on Xbox 360 has worldwide barely cracked the four million mark. If this is all true, it is very likely that Halo 3 will outsell even Halo and Halo 2 combined. We will have more as it develops.
Click to expand...
 
1

123rl

Member
devilscallmedad said:
What's the highest number of preorder's ever for a game? I have heard warcraft 3 had nearly 5 million
Click to expand...
I think Halo 2 had 6 million and WOW: Burning Crusade had about 8 million
 
W

Wollan

Member
123rl said:
I think Halo 2 had 6 million and WOW: Burning Crusade had about 8 million
Click to expand...

The Burning Crusade one has to be wrong. It sold 3.5m or so after a month I believe.
There were 8.5 million subscribers at that point though so I can see the confusion.
 
P

Phthisis

Member
So when does the government declare Halo Day an official U.S. holiday so we can get off work and banks closse and stuff?
 
S

Spider_Jerusalem

Member
123rl said:
I think Halo 2 had 6 million and WOW: Burning Crusade had about 8 million
Click to expand...
No, Halo 2 had something like 2 millions preorders, and then sold over 6 millions.

However, if these numbers are true, we're talking about only one retail chain, even if the biggest around! It would be totally crazy, I really don't know...
 
M

Mmmkay

Member
Yeah this is a bit unlikely. NPD puts the 360 at around 5.2million units to the end of March, and to say that already over 75% have not only pre-ordered but also pre-ordered from the same chain, it's just very implausible.
 
P

pswii60

Member
Hardly the most reliable source.

However, I will say that I believe Halo 3 will FAR outsell Halo 2.

Firstly, piracy was a huge problem with the first Xbox, but because of Live this isn't the case on 360, so a lot of pirates who didn't buy 1 or 2 will buy Halo 3.

Secondly, a lot of people last gen just stuck with their PS2 and never got in to the Halo vibe - I expect a lot of people to buy a 360 and play through the first two before playing Halo 3.


What MS could really do is to make the first two games downloadable titles to help promote Halo 3 to the "half of 360 owners who didn't own the original Xbox".

But, I still think long-term, GTA4 will *FAR* outsell Halo 3 - especially when you count in Europe.
 
A

Agent Icebeezy

Welcome beautful toddler, Madison Elizabeth, to the horde!
Mmmkay said:
Yeah this is a bit unlikely. NPD puts the 360 at around 5.2million units to the end of March, and to say that already over 75% have not only pre-ordered but also pre-ordered from the same chain, it's just very implausible.
Click to expand...

I have 3 friends that preordered legendary and they don't own the 360. Guess when they are picking it up?
 
B

BenjaminBirdie

Banned
Mmmkay said:
Well I guess that proves it then.
Click to expand...

Of all the limbs to go out on, trying to claim Halo 3 isn't going to demolish sales records at a volume and speed unheard of by humankind is a fairly precarious one.
 
S

Spider_Jerusalem

Member
Mmmkay said:
Yeah this is a bit unlikely. NPD puts the 360 at around 5.2million units to the end of March, and to say that already over 75% have not only pre-ordered but also pre-ordered from the same chain, it's just very implausible.
Click to expand...
Halo 2 moved a lot of Xboxes when it came out, and it was later in the console life. IMHO this time Halo 3 will move much more consoles.
 
A

Agent Icebeezy

Welcome beautful toddler, Madison Elizabeth, to the horde!
Mmmkay said:
Well I guess that proves it then.
Click to expand...

Sometime this week, I'll ask my friend to make a quick printout of games preordered the most on their system, scan it, and put it online.
 
S

Spider_Jerusalem

Member
However, if these guys at Xbox Evolved could make a similar enquiry to GameStop, I presume greater sites like Gamespot, IGN and 1UP will be able too. So, if it's true, I presume we'll have confirmation soon.

Gamespot, please tell us: Bogus or not?
 
M

Mmmkay

Member
BenjaminBirdie said:
Of all the limbs to go out on, trying to claim Halo 3 isn't going to demolish sales records at a volume and speed unheard of by humankind is a fairly precarious one.
Click to expand...
What are you people on today? Is that what I'm saying, no!

Look, pre-orders do not account for the majority of sales. EB/GameStop do not account for the majority of videogame sales either, and then there are still several months even before the big marketing build up. It is statistically absurd to claim that Halo 3 has already accumulated 4 million pre-orders from one retail chain in North America alone.

Obviously Halo 3 is going to break records, but this number seems so wrong.
 
P

Phoenix Fang

Banned
I'm two of those 4 millions. I will own a regular and a legendary edition. :D

In the UK I know a lot of people who are waiting for Halo 3 to be released before picking up a 360.
 
A

Agent Icebeezy

Welcome beautful toddler, Madison Elizabeth, to the horde!
Mmmkay said:
What are you people on today? Is that what I'm saying, no!

Look, pre-orders do not account for the majority of sales. EB/GameStop do not account for the majority of videogame sales either, and then there are still several months even before the big marketing build up. It is statistically absurd to claim that Halo 3 has already accumulated 4 million pre-orders from one retail chain in North America alone.

Obviously Halo 3 is going to break records, but this number seems so wrong.
Click to expand...

EB/GS is about 1/3 of all sales, but they obviously have a higher number of preorders than a chain such as Toys R US and such.
 
B

Broadbandito

Member
Spider_Jerusalem said:
Halo 2 moved a lot of Xboxes when it came out, and it was later in the console life. IMHO this time Halo 3 will move much more consoles.
Click to expand...

100% agreed,

I think if the 360 is the same price by the time halo is out, it will move around 3 million consoles. If it drops price 50-100 dollars. 4-5 million consoles


just think, a shit ton of people don't own a 360 yet due to a lack of a halo game out
 
M

Morbid Angel

Member
manxor said:
So that means Halo 3 will end up selling 12m copies this year alone.
Wow, completely believable!
Click to expand...

Look, I'm not saying that Halo 3 is going to sell 100 million or something but don't forget what happened with Gears..
 
G

GhaleonEB

Member
Spider_Jerusalem said:
Halo 2 sold over 6 million worldwide. Are you telling Halo 3 won't even reach its sales? Yeahright :)
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Nine million, actually. And Halo 3 will still outsell it, IMO.

I'm dubious of the number - there's only 5.2m 360 owners out there in the US as of the end of April, according to NPD, as Mmmmkay said. That would require a combination of a crazy attach rate AND tons of pre-orders from non-360 owners. I would expect that Halo fans constitute most of the early adopters at this point but even so....
 
W

westical

Banned
Can't be true, haven't you heard no one is buying Halo 3 because the last game didn't have an ending and there are too many cheaters on Live?
 
D

dejay

Banned
My brain tells me that it can't be true this long before release - such an avalanche of gaming consumerism is a scary thought.

If it is true - WOW.
 
M

manxor

Member
It's not impossible... especially with people ordering multiple copies (keep one sealed, helmet for first born, ebay, etc.) But still, 4m? GS/EB only? This early? This "news" is a little more than suspect, imo.
 
M

MrDaravon

Member
I've got two friends who have the game preordered and don't have 360s yet either. 4 million still seems awfully high. At the same time though, my tiny ass EB had I think 107 preorders like 2 MONTHS ago, so whatever the number is, it's ****ing insane.
 
V

Visualante

Member
Jesus. Will they be able to make enough? When you consider that the final touches are sometimes added 2-4 weeks before the game hits the shelves.

The fastest selling albums (Coldplay/Oasis) of all time did like 400,000 (yes thousand) in one week so this kinda takes the piss.

Microsoft has only one excuse come Halo 3 launch. That the servers are completely swamped. They've now been warned that demand is going to be ridiculous.
 
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