Microsoft said the Halo 4video game that it released last week racked up $220 million in global sales on its launch day, beating records set by previous installments of its hit game series.
Action-shooter Halo 4 -- released last Tuesday -- is on its way to reach $300 million in global sales in its first week, making it the biggest launch in the decade-old Halo franchise's history, the company said.
The previous installment Halo: Reach, the fourth game in the series, was launched in September 2010 and raked in $200 million in global sales on launch-day.
"We're thrilled that Halo 4 has emerged as the biggest US entertainment launch of the year," said Phil Spencer, corporate vice president of Microsoft Studios.
Shares of the world's largest software company were down 2 percent in afternoon trading at $28.31 on Nasdaq.
The Halo series, made by Microsoft Game Studios, spearheaded the company's foray into gaming that began with the 2001 launch of the first Xbox.
Halo 4 is a key title for Microsoft heading into the holiday shopping season.
Industry watchers say "Halo 4" sales figures will shed light on whether the well-received game can revive flagging videogame sales or surpass Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, which goes on sale on Tuesday and will vie for the title of 2012's top-selling game. The first-person shooter series, published by rival Activision Blizzard is now the biggest title on the Xbox.
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