Halo Reach is nearly approaching 5 million units sold in only  its second week !  First week sales are typically hardcore fans who would nearly rather go hungry then not have a game they love.  First week sales showed Halo kept their fanbase followers ( and even picked up a few ).. 2nd week sales are showing strong numbers..

...Even though Halo 3 sold 3.7 million in week one..It took Halo 3 ( released Sept 25, 2007)  nearly 8 MORE week to hit 5 milllion !!  ( accomplished Nov 30, 2007 ) ..  This could be a sign that Lifetime sales could be a few million higher & you have to take into account the casual gamers that buy this game later ( As the 360 userbase is now nearing 44 million worldwide and was probably about 33 million back in the Halo 3 launch window) 

...It'll probably play out different because Halo 3 sold almost another 3 million during the holidays and conversely  hit 8 million in Jan 2008..

So it'll be interesting to see what Reach does during the Holidays.. otherwise Halo Reach sales are looking great, and don't forget it now holds the record for 1st week sales on any exclusive on any console !

33 million 360s when Halo 3 came out? LOL

It's more like 12 million.

Maybe a poor choice of words on my part..not casual in a sense, but my brother in law in is showing interest in Halo Reach ( an has never played Halo before ) plays mostly Madden..  Some people who end up buying Reach wont be burning up Xbox Live like the hardcores.. Most of the nuts bought it the first days :P

Wow..
You know I never bothered to look,  thanks for the correction.. They kept those base halo fans.. but if Reach outsells Halo 3 lifetime, which is likely, the big increase in console userbase helps..

What many people downplay is how it did this with a non-holiday release date.  Halo 2 was released in the middle of the holiday rush and was THE event game that season (..... well ok, GTA:SA did come out too, but I digress).  For a September release, this is beyond impressive as was Halo 3's numbers.  

Halo 3 actually hit 5 million in its 4th week. (Source: http://www.vgchartz.com/game.php?id=6964)

To date, Halo Reach is up something like 5.9% on Halo 3's comparable sales figures (6% first week, 4% second week). Somebody posted that in one of the sales threads recently. Just thought you'd like to have some more accurate numbers.

I think we are going to continue to see strong legs for halo:reach as word of mouth spreads on just how good the game is.  So far it's my 360 GOTY edging out ME2, (but I still need to get Alan Wake). 

did anyone expect less?

Reach will pick up sales by december and November... 7.5M by years end or more.