In light of MW2, what can Halo Reach do?

[Kantor]

Modern Warfare has surpassed Halo as a franchise.

Did even Halo 3 have as much hype as MW2? No, it didn't. Did companies delay their games to 2008 in fear of Halo 3? No. Modern Warfare is, quite simply, the largest franchise currently in existence on the HD consoles, and it isn't going to be passed again this gen.

The "increased userbase" argument is illogical. What does userbase have to do with anything? How many people who didn't buy Halo 3 will buy Halo: Reach? Resistance: Fall of Man launched on a userbase of...what, 200,000? It went on to sell 3.5 million. Resistance 2 won't get near that, after launching on a 17.5 million userbase.

Going back to the Halo franchise, let's look at recent Halo game openings:

Halo Wars (hear me out): 609,000
Halo ODST (again, hear me out): 2.2 million

Both quite a way from MW2's 5.5 million. Yes, yes, an RTS and an "expansion". Of course they're not going to sell on Halo 3 levels. But, they are both iterations in the Halo franchise, and if they aren't selling, is the Halo fanbase decreasing? What I'm saying is that all of these spin-offs could be decreasing the popularity of the franchise. I wouldn't hesitate to call it milking, actually. Milking does not help a franchise, it runs it into the ground. Look at Guitar Hero, or Tony Hawk. Granted, those two had it a lot worse than Halo. But it was milking all the same.

So, I think it will sell around 3 million first week. Excellent sales, of course. Fantastic. More than most games can hope to sell in their entire lifetime. But, below Halo 3. And WELL below MW2.