| binary solo said: If MS is adding the 45 million req packs into their $400 million revenue then that takes a large chunk of the $400 million out of the equation for game sales as well. Also, according to VGC Halo 3 took 4 weeks to reach 5 million, and 5 weeks to reach 5.2 million. Reach also took 4 week, Halo 4 also took 4 week, but of course Halo 4 had digital as well. But still, there is no way any of the previous Halos got anwhere close to 5 million in the first week with or without digital sales added to VGC. I guarantee if Halo 5 sold 5 million copies in the first week MS would be putting that up in the biggest brightest lights in every gaming publication in the world. They have not, ergo Halo 5 did not come anywhere close to 5 million week 1. If the game sold 4 million week 1 that would also be a record and it would be being hailed as a massive achievement. Therefore I say using revenue as a basis for guessing number of games sold is highly unreliable. More than likely, because unit sales have not been mentioned at all, the game sold under 3.5 million week 1. While that is far from being disappointing, it is also not a number that can inspire and amaze, because the previous main entries for Halo all did better. Disappointing for a Halo title would be under 2.5 million. Sales between 2.5 and 3.5 million appears to be the ballpark. Considering total hours played in that first full week, 3 million is a pretty reasonable guess I think. ~7hrs average total play time per game sold, factoring in shortness of campaign and many people not playing the whole campaign, or even any campaign, seems like a reasonable guess. If anything ~7hrs total play time per game sold feels a bit low. But I think kowen may reflect a significant number of Halo fans, i.e. the fanbase is ageing as a large number have been with the fanchise since the original game, and as we get older we have less time we can devote to gaming. I would be surprised to see VGC publish more than 2.5 million FW. The difference being that there are 2 sales days not accounted in VGC's week 1 data compared to MS's "first week" PR, and there are digital sales VGC doesn't count. |
Certainly, REQ packs could skew the numbers from absolutely enormous to just close to enormous. Bare in mind it will certainly include the large number of free req packs that have been given out. Note they very specifically said 'acquired,' not sold. To give you an idea, if you watched Nightfall, you'll get 3-5 REQ packs immediately just for that. Posted on the Halo forums? There is another pack. Played the Beta a bit? There is another 3-5 packs. Pre-order and/or buy a special edition? Another few packs available. People can very feasibly have 10 packs and not have spent a cent for them.
As has been detailed multiple times in this thread, Microsoft's intial PR around previous (very successful) Halo launches has focused very intently on revenue for investors, not exact sales for gamers.
If the game has 'only' sold 3 million first week (which would be massive), console sales must be HUGE.
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