Halo: ODST Has Outsold Killzone 2, Already
Don't underestimate the power of Halo.Published 23/09/2009 at 22:13 by nofi
We’ll be honest, this is something of a shock, but apparently Halo: ODST, the Earth-based prequel, has already outsold the PS3’s flagship first person shooter Killzone 2. Estimates (and we stress that word) put American sales of Guerrilla Games’ Killzone 2 up at around 2 million copies, but today Loot Ninja is reporting that sales of ODST are already above that, after just one day, although again the figures are from VGChartz and as such should be taken as an estimate.
Regardless, the figures over at Bungie show a hugely impressive number of players today at almost a million worldwide at the time of writing – it’s not clear whether that’s online-only game mode players and obviously doesn’t include the many Xbox 360 gamers not connected to Live so could potentially be many more. If this is true this is one hell of a coup for Microsoft and Bungie and comes on the back of a similarly impressive (currently 84%) set of Metacritic scores.
Comments
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Apnomis | 23/09/2009 22:47
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Halo is like some weird gaming cult – everyone with an Xbox has to buy it! I wouldn’t mind but I played Halo 3, albeit briefly, and wasn’t all that impressed. I’ve not seen ODST but given it’s called Halo 3:ODST I’m assuming it’s on the same Halo 3 engine so must look a bit dated by now.
I’m sure the Xbox fanboys won’t agree with me, but I can’t help thinking with any other game this would have been £20 DLC, but because it’s Halo (aka a licence to print money) it’s been made into a full retail release at full retail price!
That being said I bet Sony would kill for a franchise like that, a brand you could stick on a polished turd and still have it sell by the boat load! Uncharted 2 is likely superior to this expansion in every way (aside from online probably) but it still won’t sell anywhere near those numbers.
I guess there’s something to be said for building your empire on the back of a single franchise… just imagine what the World would be like today had Microsoft not bought Bungie when they did and Halo was released on PS2 as intended…
Raen | 23/09/2009 23:09
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The campaign is only a little shorter than CoD4, contains all the Halo 3 multiplayer as well as a new multiplayer mode. Hardly a DLC release. If it was missing the multiplayer then I’d probably agree with you, and it wouldn’t have sold at retail as well anyway without multiplayer content.
It is based on the Halo 3 engine. Some reviewers have said it looks a little dated, while others have said that with the tweaks and additions they’ve made to art style it actually stands out pretty well.
If you’d like to know how the world would have been without the Bungie buyout then checkout the “What If” piece I did last week on that very subject. I also doubt it would have made PS2, Bungie themselves have said that whilst it was running well on PC and Mac they never got it to run on PS2.
Watchful | 24/09/2009 00:27
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Yeah, the 20-odd DLC maps for Halo on the second disc are a welcome bonus. Haven’t worked out what they’d cost to buy. Though given I’ve not been tempted to buy them before, whether I’ll use them is a valid question. Enjoying ODST so far though and looking forward to trying Firefight when I get the chance.
nofi | 23/09/2009 22:51
Wants a custom tag.
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I’m getting ODST next week, can’t wait to see what all the fuss is about.
Timesh1993 | 24/09/2009 17:52
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Review maybe?
Quinlank | 23/09/2009 22:57
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Like this was ever not going to happen, let be honest. Killzone will never ever be nearly as popular as Halo, if for no other reason than for many years, Killzone was a name synonymous with shitty games(First one and Liberation sucked).
I’ve been playing ODST this evening myself finally, and have to admit that I’m not really all that impressed. It’s decent, yeah, but it’s not as ‘exciting’ as Halo 3 was, definitely a lot slower moving, and it still has that retarded floaty jump effect. That’s always annoyed me. Graphics aren’t the best either, especially when the Visor is switched on(And it’s always so bloody dark everywhere). The atmosphere is quite decent though, and I’m enjoying the story(But then I’m a pretty big Firefly fan
) if nothing else.
Also, I didn’t realise the review scores for the game were as low as they are. Much lower than Killzone 2’s for sure. For a Halo(Actual ‘Bungie’ Halo, no one likes to acknowledge Wars) game’s ‘metascore’ to be anything under 90 percent is shocking, for it to be skimming the surface of 80 percent is unbelievable. Guess I wasn’t the only one who wasn’t too hot on being forced to rebuy Halo 3’s multiplayer when I didn’t like it all that much the first time around. I’d be more annoyed if I’d paid full price for ODST though, so can’t be helped.
Raen | 23/09/2009 23:14
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The VISR is the stuff I’ve liked the most. I hope I’m not let down by it in game.
a inferior race | 24/09/2009 03:10
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The VISR is completely useless in any enviroment with daylight. Doesn’t have much use in vehicles either.
Raen | 24/09/2009 09:09
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I’d heard that, but isn’t it’s point is that it’s night vision? The night time stuff is what I’m looking forward to, I might just hang about outside of missions and see how the environment reacts to stealth etc…
a inferior race | 25/09/2009 02:26
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That is one use. However, it is the only way to ’see’ the invisible brutes.
Seventy2 | 23/09/2009 22:58
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I have both Killzone 2 and Halo ODST sat next to each other on my games shelf, and I can confirm that neither boxes have said anything nasty to the other one yet.
Unlike Viva Pinata and Uncharted, man those two just don’t get along! It proves that you just can’t mix your budget titles.
Seriously, ODST is a great, great game, but Killzone is just world’s ahead. But not in sales unfortunately.
cc_star | 23/09/2009 23:01
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Awesome figures for a great franchise
Alex_Assassin_08 | 23/09/2009 23:05
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*adds to must buy list for when I get a 360 this christmas*
YES, I FINALLY SNAPPED! :O
red_H | 23/09/2009 23:20
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Big games will always sell , but this is a pretty awesome for the first few days .
benny boy | 23/09/2009 23:29
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Didn’t Killzone get 1 million pre-orders in the UK before it even launched?:
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=207519
colossalblue | 23/09/2009 23:46
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I had that same thought but I thought it was EU pre-orders.
A quick search of “teh internetz” best gaming website found me this and confirmed my thoughts.
http://www.thesixthaxis.com/2009/02/05/eu-killzone-2-pre-orders-over-a-million/
So there you go. Shooters sell pretty well, huh?
peespee63 | 24/09/2009 00:01
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1071 TSA Points | Member since: Feb 2009
Has everyone taken leave of their senses here? The article reads IN AMERICA, not worldwide. By and large, Halo is an American franchise, and has a much bigger following there than Killzone, so obviously, sales are going to be better IN AMERICA. Killzone is in my opinion, a more European franchise, so I’d assume that EU sales of ODST will be considerably less.
This “Story” does not reflect the world climate, only AMERICA.
If I’m proved wrong, so be it, I’ll be the first to hold up my hands, but I think this is a pounce on a claim which has to be investigated fully.
seadrive2 | 24/09/2009 00:19
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Just to clarify some history, Halo was never intended to be launched on a PS2…abe’s oddysey was supposed to be a launch title originally. Bungie was purchased by Microsoft years before any of the last generation consoles appeared…Halo was originally designed on a Macintosh and was supposed to be released on that computer platform until Microsoft purchased Bungie…
About fanboys and such, I personally own all consoles including a PS3…however, I don’t play games very often on the unit…Halo is graphically not the greatest engine and is outdated; however, the enemy AI, interface and play mechanics, use of vehicles is what makes it fun…so as Sony said years back when the xbox 1 was released with much more horsepower…”the gameplay makes a game not the graphics.”
The interface of the 360, demo’s, live feed material and movies have made me gravitate more to the 360 than anything else…with PS3 prices down to $300, they will really increase in sales and probably outsell the 360, but because of the blueray player…that’s what I use my PS3 mostly for….cheers….Seadrive
a inferior race | 24/09/2009 03:12
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The AI is still top-notch.
Raen | 24/09/2009 09:12
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Halo had started development on the PS2, but they never got it running. And Microsoft didn’t buy Bungie ‘years’ before, they bought it less than a year and a half before the release of the Xbox and Halo. The purchase was announced on June 19th 2000 and the Xbox was released on November 15th 2001.
Cort | 24/09/2009 02:05
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1.75m of those sales were for the Reach beta key.
a inferior race | 24/09/2009 03:16
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Very much doubt it. Pretty much all those sales were because its halo by bungie. If there is a sudden spike around the time of beta then we can expect that to be the case.
DJ Judas | 24/09/2009 07:05
Epic
514 TSA Points | Member since: Aug 2008
If Raven, Activision, ID and co still want to shift copies of Wolfenstein all they need to do is put the word Halo in the title: Sales will increase ten-fold and average review scores will jump 2 points.
Ryosuke | 24/09/2009 08:57
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Bleh i don’t like Halo well the first was good, but anything after just got a bit to bland, but it still doesn’t surprise me for one minute it outsold Killzone 2
BadBoyBoogie | 24/09/2009 14:52
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Wow, I thought Halo ODST had only just been released!!! If that’s the case and it’s already outsold Killzone 2, which is a platinum range game, then that’s a pretty impressive achievement!!
Raen | 24/09/2009 14:55
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It has, the article says this is sales figures from day 1.
iNsAnE_gAmInG | 24/09/2009 17:56
* Banned *
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This was an inevitability. I mean… it’s Halo!
To be honest I never really liked it but I know loads of my mates enjoy it and they’re not even geeks like Halo players are often sterotyped as.