By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close

Forums - Gaming - Who actually believes that GT series IS more popular than Halo series.

I think Halo easily is more popular now. I think gaming preferences are different in general and FPS games are popular right now. With the nes / snes era it was platformers, then rpgs in ps1 era; ps2 I'm not sure, and now FPS. I predict 8 million lifetime at best for Gran Turismo 5; it deserves more, but it likely won't receive it.



How do you breathe again?

Around the Network
Rpruett said:
This isn't even a question. People mentioning user bases? You're off base. If we're talking popularity? The Gran Turismo franchise is clearly more popular. The best selling Gran Turismo game has sold easily more than the best selling Halo game.

As a matter of fact, all Gran Turismo's have sold well. Why? It's MORE popular than Halo. It's just that simple. Halo is not the end all be all. Especially on a world wide scale. Japanese could careless about Halo. Europe as whole doesn't care that much either. Gran Turismo is Halo (In America) huge in Europe and Japan.

GT3: A Spec---PS2 had 9.1m sold when Japanese version came out, when American version came out PS2 had 11.9m sold

-The game came out 4/28/01 and stopped selling 12/28/04 because GT4 came out.  So thats about 3.75 years.

-The end install base for the PS2 when GT3 stopped selling was 76m 

-So in 3.75 years GT3 sold 14.87m with a start install base of 9.1m and end install base of 76m.

 

Halo 3:---360 had 11.6m sold when Halo 3 was released worldwide

-The game came out 9/25/07 and is still selling so we'll take todays date 4/14/09. so thats about 1.6 years.

-the current install base for the 360 is 29.7

-so in 1.6 years Halo 3 sold 9.43m with a start install base of 11.6 and end install base of 29.7

So Halo 3 has 2.15 YEARS to catch up to GT3, AND it when the 2.15 years is up it will STILL most likely be on a much smaller install base.

All this data was taken right here from vgchartz so take this as you will.

And i'm also not saying that Halo 3 will definatly catch up to GT3 but without bundles there's a pretty good chance, with some decent bundling consider it destroyed.

 

 



GT it's more popular period.

united states it's not the whole world and its neither the center of it.



More POPULAR? Not in any stretch of the imagination. Higher SELLING? Yeah.

Halo is more popular because it isn't just a game series anymore. I've seen novels, toys, machinimas, parodies, cartoons, comics, t-shirts, drinks, dolls, sculptures, and for even the THOUGHT of Halo having a movie rose a huge turnout of people hoping for it not to mention the ungodly and extremely active fanbase, including the tons of people who even just sat outside of Gamestop on launch day.

As far as popularity goes, Halo eats just about every other possible video game franchise. As far as sales goes, GT sells, or is bundled with(I wasn't tracking last gen) more then Halo.



GOTY Contestants this year: Dead Space 2, Dark Souls, Tales of Graces f. Everything else can suck it.

Onyxmeth said:
Rpruett said:
Onyxmeth said:
Rpruett said:
This isn't even a question. People mentioning user bases? You're off base. If we're talking popularity? The Gran Turismo franchise is clearly more popular. The best selling Gran Turismo game has sold easily more than the best selling Halo game.

As a matter of fact, all Gran Turismo's have sold well. Why? It's MORE popular than Halo. It's just that simple. Halo is not the end all be all. Especially on a world wide scale. Japanese could careless about Halo. Europe as whole doesn't care that much either. Gran Turismo is Halo (In America) huge in Europe and Japan.

 

Yeah but the best selling GT game was released 8 years ago. Do you really think looking at it that black and white gives an accurate picture of how well GT5 will perform in today's environment?

You talk about GT being popular on a worldwide scale as opposed to Halo's American dominance like it means something. Just pitting two regions against one does not make the two more powerful.

 

This thread is about which franchise is more popular than the other. In this instance,  yes Gran Turismo kicks, beats, tars and feathers Halo. Then comes back and molests Halo a little longer.   This isn't about GT5/Halo 3.    That comparison will never be accurate, considering a whole host of factors go into play there.  

  In terms of the series though?  There is no comparison. Gran Turismo's best selling version is significantly better than Halo's best selling version. 

Ofcourse it's popularity in Japan and Europe means something.   This viewpoint that "Halo walks on water and is the most popular game that's ever existed"  is not only patently false but it's also VERY VERY VERY "American-centric".   The rest of the world does not care about Halo.

Gran Turismo sees solid sales in all three regions (Something Halo can't say).   Additionally,  since Halo is a very American-centric game...The chances that it's more popular diminish significantly.

 

America for the 360 accounts for 166,157,971 in software sales. Others and Japan combined for 360 account for 57,467,437 in software sales. So Halo's strongest region, America accounts for 74% of the buying audience.

Japan and Others for the PS3 account for 63,414,326 in software sales. America accounts for 64,199,452 in software sales. So Gran Turismo's strongest regions account for almost 50% of the buying audience.

So it's better for Halo to be strongest in America than it is for Gran Turismo to be strongest in Others/Japan because America is a bigger region than both of them combined, especially in the case of the 360.

 

In terms of overall numbers,  It's better to be appealing to all three regions then region locked to one.  Period.   America accounts for about 300,000,000 people in a world filled with 6,000,000,000 people.  In terms of popularity?   Gran Turismo has penetrated and had more success overall in large part due to it's ability to transcend cultures. (Something Halo has yet and probably NEVER will accomplish).

 

 

 

Nevermind. You and I are just talking about two different things. I'm discussing popularity in a manner to see which is more popular today, and if GT5 can outsell Halo 3. You seem to be talking about both games' general popularity since they've been created. Since we aren't on the same page at all, there's really no need to keep discussing this.

 

 

I understand you're getting at, believe me.   Given the historical samples of  Gran Turismo?  I think it easily will put up close to Halo 3-esque numbers.   Then again,  given the PS3 data thus far I am skeptical to make the claim that it will surpass them.  I don't know if any Sony game is going to do it. 

When comparing the "series"  why wouldn't we be taking historical data into account?  It's clearly evident that Gran Turismo the series has sold more copies and has more acclaim on a World-Wide basis.  Why does GT5/Halo 3 determine the 'current' popularity? 

For example,   (Mario is the most popular gaming series created).  Mario Galaxy has sold less copies than Halo 3 has.  Is Halo 3 more popular than Mario?   No way in hell.  And it would be laughable to suggest  it.  I would say Halo totally destroys Gran Turismo in America (In terms of popularity)  but Halo truly is just an American phenomenon.

 

At least 50 million copies

# Franchise name Original Release Date Sales
1 Mario 1981[1] 201 million[2]
The Mario franchise spawned over 200 games since its first release.[1] Known as Jumpman in the original Donkey Kong video game, the character was created by Shigeru Miyamoto and since became the official mascot of Nintendo, owner of the trademark.

2 Pokémon February 27, 1996 186 million[3]
Pokémon was created by Satoshi Tajiri in 1995 as a video game for the Game Boy portable console, soon turning into a franchise merchandised into anime, manga, trading cards, toys, books, and other media. It is owned by Nintendo.

3 The Sims February 4, 2000 100 million[2][4]
The Sims is a series of strategic life-simulation computer and console video games created by game designer Will Wright, published by Maxis and distributed by Electronic Arts. The series consists of three main games and a number of compilations and expansion packs.

4 Need for Speed 1994 almost 100 million[5]
Need For Speed is a series of racing video games by Electronic Arts, released on multiple platforms. The games consist mainly of racing with various cars on various tracks, and to some extent, include police pursuits in races.

5 Final Fantasy December 18, 1987 85 million[6]
Final Fantasy (ファイナルファンタジー Fainaru Fantajī?) is a media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi and owned by Square Enix that includes twelve released main video games and a number of spin-offs — mostly role-playing games, motion pictures, and other merchandise.

6 Grand Theft Auto 1997 70 million[7]
Grand Theft Auto is a sandbox style video game series created by Dave Jones and primarily developed by Scottish developer Rockstar North (formerly DMA Design) and published by Rockstar Games, including eight stand-alone games and two expansion packs for the original game.

7 Madden NFL 1988 70 million[8]
Madden NFL is an American football video game series developed by Electronic Arts Tiburon for EA Sports. The game is named after Pro Football Hall of Famer John Madden, a well-known color commentator for NBC Sports and formerly a Super Bowl-winning head coach during the 1970s with the Oakland Raiders.

8 Tetris June 1985 70 million[9]
Tetris (Russian: Тетрис) is a falling-blocks puzzle video game, created by Alexey Pajitnov and released on a vast spectrum of platforms, from calculators to video game consoles and computers, with the version bundled with the Game Boy the most successful with over 33 million sold.[10]

9 FIFA Christmas 1993 65 million[11]
A series of football (soccer) video games, released yearly by Electronic Arts under the EA Sports label, and the first to have an official licence from the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (International Federation of Association Football), the international governing body of football.

10 Tom Clancy August 21, 1998 55 million[12]
Includes sales from Tom Clancy–sponsored games made by Ubisoft, including Ghost Recon, Rainbow Six, and Splinter Cell.

11 The Legend of Zelda February 21, 1986 52 million[13]
The Legend of Zelda (ゼルダの伝説 Zeruda no Densetsu?) is a high fantasy action-adventure video game series created by game designer Shigeru Miyamoto, developed and published by Nintendo.

12 Nickelodeon
50 million[14]
The Nickelodeon franchise includes licenses like SpongeBob SquarePants and Avatar: The Last Airbender, published by THQ.

13 Sonic the Hedgehog June 23, 1991 50 million[15]
The Sonic the Hedgehog series is a franchise of video games released by Sega starring and named after its mascot character Sonic the Hedgehog, created by Yuji Naka and Naoto Ohshima. With time, it has expanded into animated television series, manga and comic books.

14 Gran Turismo December 23, 1997 50 million shipped[16]
Gran Turismo is a series of racing video games produced by Kazunori Yamauchi for the Sony PlayStation gaming systems by Polyphony Digital.


Around the Network
The said:
@Oxxy good analysis but it has nothing to do with popularity. Let's take another popular game from a very different genre (one that was not the same during this decade, FIGHTING is what I'm talking about) :

Street Fighter. Can anyone deny the popularity of SF? Surely we could argue Soul Calibur franchise SOLD a lot more during the 2000 decade.

The last Street Fighter game (previous to SF4 of course) was released last decade, in 1999 and it was its third version : Street Fighter III : Third Strike. After that no more SF, for more than 9 years (arcade) and close to 10 years (consoles).

A LOT of rain has fallen in 10 years. Industry has grown, the market has changed, new genres and gameplay have emerged. Fighters were not the same, even if the Tekkens and the Soul Caliburs were still in regular production.

However, the popularity of SF can't be denied. Even if Soul Calibur had gone to sell even lots more of what SF2 did in its heyday (just an hipothesis) due to marketing expansion and the undiable growth of the industry in the 2000s, nobody could deny SF2's popularity. SF is the father of fighting games.

Gran Turismo is the father of racing games. And I'm not trying to equal the popularity of these games, but nobody can deny GT is for racing what SF is for fighting, even if on a smaller scale.

And NOTE: I'm talking about SF here, a franchise that was forgotten for a whole decade, a genre that used to be on consoles what FPS are today. Obviously SF4 wouldn't go to sell close to the likes of Halo, not even now when the "Arcade fever" is long gone everywhere but in Japan. So please, if you see SF4 sales just barely around 2 million after 2 months of sales, don't come to me preaching SF2 is a bad example or it's not as "popular" as "game x"....I wanted to do this extreme comparison to show you what popularity can do even if you're forgotten for 10 years.

GT has not been forgotten, never, and it still rides along the highways of these times. It's popularity has not diminished, and it will live up to it with its next release.

I'm not quite sure what you're getting at with this Soul Calibur vs. Street Fighter comparison. No Soul Calibur has ever outsold Street Fighter 2 and the only reason SC may have been more popular is simply because Capcom was spending the majority of the 2000's diluting and ignoring Street Fighter instead of giving a shit. Not to mention you totally forgot about Smash Bros. who's popularity shits on both of them.

I don't think it has a lot to do with this Halo vs. GT thing also because you are talking about same genre games, while Halo/GT are of polar opposite genres. I figured this thread was being used to see which would outsell which, since garnering popularity for two games in seperate genres isn't easy. I figured only sales could provide an answer, or in this case, sales potential, since GT5 isn't out yet. Obviously though, I'm talking about something totally different than others in this thread, so I figure I'll exit at this point, since I don't have much interest in this other version of a popularity contest based off old trends and old brand values.

 



Tag: Became a freaking mod and a complete douche, coincidentally, at the same time.



The said:
@Oxxy good analysis but it has nothing to do with popularity. Let's take another popular game from a very different genre (one that was not the same during this decade, FIGHTING is what I'm talking about) :

Street Fighter. Can anyone deny the popularity of SF? Surely we could argue Soul Calibur franchise SOLD a lot more during the 2000 decade.

The last Street Fighter game (previous to SF4 of course) was released last decade, in 1999 and it was its third version : Street Fighter III : Third Strike. After that no more SF, for more than 9 years (arcade) and close to 10 years (consoles).

A LOT of rain has fallen in 10 years. Industry has grown, the market has changed, new genres and gameplay have emerged. Fighters were not the same, even if the Tekkens and the Soul Caliburs were still in regular production.

However, the popularity of SF can't be denied. Even if Soul Calibur had gone to sell even lots more of what SF2 did in its heyday (just an hipothesis) due to marketing expansion and the undiable growth of the industry in the 2000s, nobody could deny SF2's popularity. SF is the father of fighting games.

Gran Turismo is the father of racing games. And I'm not trying to equal the popularity of these games, but nobody can deny GT is for racing what SF is for fighting, even if on a smaller scale.

And NOTE: I'm talking about SF here, a franchise that was forgotten for a whole decade, a genre that used to be on consoles what FPS are today. Obviously SF4 wouldn't go to sell close to the likes of Halo, not even now when the "Arcade fever" is long gone everywhere but in Japan. So please, if you see SF4 sales just barely around 2 million after 2 months of sales, don't come to me preaching SF2 is a bad example or it's not as "popular" as "game x"....I wanted to do this extreme comparison to show you what popularity can do even if you're forgotten for 10 years.

GT has not been forgotten, never, and it still rides along the highways of these times. It's popularity has not diminished, and it will live up to it with its next release.

 

I must say....Gran turismo is really big...But your analogy seems off to me...Street fighter never disappeared because it was an arcade game..in New York SF 3 never lost steam as it is still played (I mean really long lines to play Giant attack till this day even with SF4 cabinets next to it...maybe the dollar price tag on SF4 is what makes 3 still appealing).and at arcades was were it was big and where it's popularity came from...Just ask Justin Wong (Street Fighter 3 champion in America) if he's been under a rock for the past decade....

 

 so it's a little weird to compare Soul calibur to street fighter when the competition for it was more along the line of Toshinden,fighting vipers (which it knocked off all competitors as it first incarnation soul edge)

 

Now as to GT the father of Racing games....Dunno..I remember Out Run being the biggest thing...But that was the problem back then there was a big distinction between  arcade and console....Gran Turismo i would agree is what made racing games what they are today...but then again if you walk into Dave & Buster (a casual arcade and bar ) and You can play Daytona USA for $1.50 like it came out yesterday....

I think you need to explain the why you used Street Fighter in this and say it had disaperad for a decade to me further..and use simple word is you think it appropiate

 

And ofcourse i am going to throw this one in there  the Street fighter Vs. Xmen and it's following incarnations.....No one ever stoped playing those, maybe the Vs. series was very overbearing



 



Shadowblind said:

More POPULAR? Not in any stretch of the imagination. Higher SELLING? Yeah.

Halo is more popular because it isn't just a game series anymore. I've seen novels, toys, machinimas, parodies, cartoons, comics, t-shirts, drinks, dolls, sculptures, and for even the THOUGHT of Halo having a movie rose a huge turnout of people hoping for it not to mention the ungodly and extremely active fanbase, including the tons of people who even just sat outside of Gamestop on launch day.

As far as popularity goes, Halo eats just about every other possible video game franchise. As far as sales goes, GT sells, or is bundled with(I wasn't tracking last gen) more then Halo.

Yes but Sony fanboys will completly ignore this post because they have NOTHING in reply because GT series have never known this amount of critical acclaim.  EVERY single person i know that has capable speaking skills has heard of halo, and i mean EVERYBODY! I can't go anywhere without being reminded about halo in some way or form!!

 



Rpruett said:
Onyxmeth said:
Rpruett said:
Onyxmeth said:
Rpruett said:
This isn't even a question. People mentioning user bases? You're off base. If we're talking popularity? The Gran Turismo franchise is clearly more popular. The best selling Gran Turismo game has sold easily more than the best selling Halo game.

As a matter of fact, all Gran Turismo's have sold well. Why? It's MORE popular than Halo. It's just that simple. Halo is not the end all be all. Especially on a world wide scale. Japanese could careless about Halo. Europe as whole doesn't care that much either. Gran Turismo is Halo (In America) huge in Europe and Japan.

 

Yeah but the best selling GT game was released 8 years ago. Do you really think looking at it that black and white gives an accurate picture of how well GT5 will perform in today's environment?

You talk about GT being popular on a worldwide scale as opposed to Halo's American dominance like it means something. Just pitting two regions against one does not make the two more powerful.

 

This thread is about which franchise is more popular than the other. In this instance,  yes Gran Turismo kicks, beats, tars and feathers Halo. Then comes back and molests Halo a little longer.   This isn't about GT5/Halo 3.    That comparison will never be accurate, considering a whole host of factors go into play there.  

  In terms of the series though?  There is no comparison. Gran Turismo's best selling version is significantly better than Halo's best selling version. 

Ofcourse it's popularity in Japan and Europe means something.   This viewpoint that "Halo walks on water and is the most popular game that's ever existed"  is not only patently false but it's also VERY VERY VERY "American-centric".   The rest of the world does not care about Halo.

Gran Turismo sees solid sales in all three regions (Something Halo can't say).   Additionally,  since Halo is a very American-centric game...The chances that it's more popular diminish significantly.

 

America for the 360 accounts for 166,157,971 in software sales. Others and Japan combined for 360 account for 57,467,437 in software sales. So Halo's strongest region, America accounts for 74% of the buying audience.

Japan and Others for the PS3 account for 63,414,326 in software sales. America accounts for 64,199,452 in software sales. So Gran Turismo's strongest regions account for almost 50% of the buying audience.

So it's better for Halo to be strongest in America than it is for Gran Turismo to be strongest in Others/Japan because America is a bigger region than both of them combined, especially in the case of the 360.

 

In terms of overall numbers,  It's better to be appealing to all three regions then region locked to one.  Period.   America accounts for about 300,000,000 people in a world filled with 6,000,000,000 people.  In terms of popularity?   Gran Turismo has penetrated and had more success overall in large part due to it's ability to transcend cultures. (Something Halo has yet and probably NEVER will accomplish).

 

 

 

Nevermind. You and I are just talking about two different things. I'm discussing popularity in a manner to see which is more popular today, and if GT5 can outsell Halo 3. You seem to be talking about both games' general popularity since they've been created. Since we aren't on the same page at all, there's really no need to keep discussing this.

 

 

I understand you're getting at, believe me.   Given the historical samples of  Gran Turismo?  I think it easily will put up close to Halo 3-esque numbers.   Then again,  given the PS3 data thus far I am skeptical to make the claim that it will surpass them.  I don't know if any Sony game is going to do it. 

When comparing the "series"  why wouldn't we be taking historical data into account?  It's clearly evident that Gran Turismo the series has sold more copies and has more acclaim on a World-Wide basis.  Why does GT5/Halo 3 determine the 'current' popularity? 

For example,   (Mario is the most popular gaming series created).  Mario Galaxy has sold less copies than Halo 3 has.  Is Halo 3 more popular than Mario?   No way in hell.  And it would be laughable to suggest  it.  I would say Halo totally destroys Gran Turismo in America (In terms of popularity)  but Halo truly is just an American phenomenon.

 

At least 50 million copies

# Franchise name Original Release Date Sales
1 Mario 1981[1] 201 million[2]
The Mario franchise spawned over 200 games since its first release.[1] Known as Jumpman in the original Donkey Kong video game, the character was created by Shigeru Miyamoto and since became the official mascot of Nintendo, owner of the trademark.

2 Pokémon February 27, 1996 186 million[3]
Pokémon was created by Satoshi Tajiri in 1995 as a video game for the Game Boy portable console, soon turning into a franchise merchandised into anime, manga, trading cards, toys, books, and other media. It is owned by Nintendo.

3 The Sims February 4, 2000 100 million[2][4]
The Sims is a series of strategic life-simulation computer and console video games created by game designer Will Wright, published by Maxis and distributed by Electronic Arts. The series consists of three main games and a number of compilations and expansion packs.

4 Need for Speed 1994 almost 100 million[5]
Need For Speed is a series of racing video games by Electronic Arts, released on multiple platforms. The games consist mainly of racing with various cars on various tracks, and to some extent, include police pursuits in races.

5 Final Fantasy December 18, 1987 85 million[6]
Final Fantasy (ファイナルファンタジー Fainaru Fantajī?) is a media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi and owned by Square Enix that includes twelve released main video games and a number of spin-offs — mostly role-playing games, motion pictures, and other merchandise.

6 Grand Theft Auto 1997 70 million[7]
Grand Theft Auto is a sandbox style video game series created by Dave Jones and primarily developed by Scottish developer Rockstar North (formerly DMA Design) and published by Rockstar Games, including eight stand-alone games and two expansion packs for the original game.

7 Madden NFL 1988 70 million[8]
Madden NFL is an American football video game series developed by Electronic Arts Tiburon for EA Sports. The game is named after Pro Football Hall of Famer John Madden, a well-known color commentator for NBC Sports and formerly a Super Bowl-winning head coach during the 1970s with the Oakland Raiders.

8 Tetris June 1985 70 million[9]
Tetris (Russian: Тетрис) is a falling-blocks puzzle video game, created by Alexey Pajitnov and released on a vast spectrum of platforms, from calculators to video game consoles and computers, with the version bundled with the Game Boy the most successful with over 33 million sold.[10]

9 FIFA Christmas 1993 65 million[11]
A series of football (soccer) video games, released yearly by Electronic Arts under the EA Sports label, and the first to have an official licence from the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (International Federation of Association Football), the international governing body of football.

10 Tom Clancy August 21, 1998 55 million[12]
Includes sales from Tom Clancy–sponsored games made by Ubisoft, including Ghost Recon, Rainbow Six, and Splinter Cell.

11 The Legend of Zelda February 21, 1986 52 million[13]
The Legend of Zelda (ゼルダの伝説 Zeruda no Densetsu?) is a high fantasy action-adventure video game series created by game designer Shigeru Miyamoto, developed and published by Nintendo.

12 Nickelodeon
50 million[14]
The Nickelodeon franchise includes licenses like SpongeBob SquarePants and Avatar: The Last Airbender, published by THQ.

13 Sonic the Hedgehog June 23, 1991 50 million[15]
The Sonic the Hedgehog series is a franchise of video games released by Sega starring and named after its mascot character Sonic the Hedgehog, created by Yuji Naka and Naoto Ohshima. With time, it has expanded into animated television series, manga and comic books.

14 Gran Turismo December 23, 1997 50 million shipped[16]
Gran Turismo is a series of racing video games produced by Kazunori Yamauchi for the Sony PlayStation gaming systems by Polyphony Digital.

/thread

john what you don't understand its that you live in united states, which halo main market, in latin america, Europe And japan GT is more popular.

ask anyone here about halo, they won't know aw thing, but ask about Gran Turismo they will reply asap and or at least know it's about car.

actually GT versions or cars are valuable by collectors.



Rpruett said:
Onyxmeth said:
Rpruett said:
Onyxmeth said:
Rpruett said:
This isn't even a question. People mentioning user bases? You're off base. If we're talking popularity? The Gran Turismo franchise is clearly more popular. The best selling Gran Turismo game has sold easily more than the best selling Halo game.

As a matter of fact, all Gran Turismo's have sold well. Why? It's MORE popular than Halo. It's just that simple. Halo is not the end all be all. Especially on a world wide scale. Japanese could careless about Halo. Europe as whole doesn't care that much either. Gran Turismo is Halo (In America) huge in Europe and Japan.

 

Yeah but the best selling GT game was released 8 years ago. Do you really think looking at it that black and white gives an accurate picture of how well GT5 will perform in today's environment?

You talk about GT being popular on a worldwide scale as opposed to Halo's American dominance like it means something. Just pitting two regions against one does not make the two more powerful.

 

This thread is about which franchise is more popular than the other. In this instance,  yes Gran Turismo kicks, beats, tars and feathers Halo. Then comes back and molests Halo a little longer.   This isn't about GT5/Halo 3.    That comparison will never be accurate, considering a whole host of factors go into play there.  

  In terms of the series though?  There is no comparison. Gran Turismo's best selling version is significantly better than Halo's best selling version. 

Ofcourse it's popularity in Japan and Europe means something.   This viewpoint that "Halo walks on water and is the most popular game that's ever existed"  is not only patently false but it's also VERY VERY VERY "American-centric".   The rest of the world does not care about Halo.

Gran Turismo sees solid sales in all three regions (Something Halo can't say).   Additionally,  since Halo is a very American-centric game...The chances that it's more popular diminish significantly.

 

America for the 360 accounts for 166,157,971 in software sales. Others and Japan combined for 360 account for 57,467,437 in software sales. So Halo's strongest region, America accounts for 74% of the buying audience.

Japan and Others for the PS3 account for 63,414,326 in software sales. America accounts for 64,199,452 in software sales. So Gran Turismo's strongest regions account for almost 50% of the buying audience.

So it's better for Halo to be strongest in America than it is for Gran Turismo to be strongest in Others/Japan because America is a bigger region than both of them combined, especially in the case of the 360.

 

In terms of overall numbers,  It's better to be appealing to all three regions then region locked to one.  Period.   America accounts for about 300,000,000 people in a world filled with 6,000,000,000 people.  In terms of popularity?   Gran Turismo has penetrated and had more success overall in large part due to it's ability to transcend cultures. (Something Halo has yet and probably NEVER will accomplish).

 

 

 

Nevermind. You and I are just talking about two different things. I'm discussing popularity in a manner to see which is more popular today, and if GT5 can outsell Halo 3. You seem to be talking about both games' general popularity since they've been created. Since we aren't on the same page at all, there's really no need to keep discussing this.

 

 

I understand you're getting at, believe me.   Given the historical samples of  Gran Turismo?  I think it easily will put up close to Halo 3-esque numbers.   Then again,  given the PS3 data thus far I am skeptical to make the claim that it will surpass them.  I don't know if any Sony game is going to do it. 

When comparing the "series"  why wouldn't we be taking historical data into account?  It's clearly evident that Gran Turismo the series has sold more copies and has more acclaim on a World-Wide basis.  Why does GT5/Halo 3 determine the 'current' popularity? 

For example,   (Mario is the most popular gaming series created).  Mario Galaxy has sold less copies than Halo 3 has.  Is Halo 3 more popular than Mario?   No way in hell.  And it would be laughable to suggest  it.  I would say Halo totally destroys Gran Turismo in America (In terms of popularity)  but Halo truly is just an American phenomenon.

 

At least 50 million copies

# Franchise name Original Release Date Sales
1 Mario 1981[1] 201 million[2]
The Mario franchise spawned over 200 games since its first release.[1] Known as Jumpman in the original Donkey Kong video game, the character was created by Shigeru Miyamoto and since became the official mascot of Nintendo, owner of the trademark.

2 Pokémon February 27, 1996 186 million[3]
Pokémon was created by Satoshi Tajiri in 1995 as a video game for the Game Boy portable console, soon turning into a franchise merchandised into anime, manga, trading cards, toys, books, and other media. It is owned by Nintendo.

3 The Sims February 4, 2000 100 million[2][4]
The Sims is a series of strategic life-simulation computer and console video games created by game designer Will Wright, published by Maxis and distributed by Electronic Arts. The series consists of three main games and a number of compilations and expansion packs.

4 Need for Speed 1994 almost 100 million[5]
Need For Speed is a series of racing video games by Electronic Arts, released on multiple platforms. The games consist mainly of racing with various cars on various tracks, and to some extent, include police pursuits in races.

5 Final Fantasy December 18, 1987 85 million[6]
Final Fantasy (ファイナルファンタジー Fainaru Fantajī?) is a media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi and owned by Square Enix that includes twelve released main video games and a number of spin-offs — mostly role-playing games, motion pictures, and other merchandise.

6 Grand Theft Auto 1997 70 million[7]
Grand Theft Auto is a sandbox style video game series created by Dave Jones and primarily developed by Scottish developer Rockstar North (formerly DMA Design) and published by Rockstar Games, including eight stand-alone games and two expansion packs for the original game.

7 Madden NFL 1988 70 million[8]
Madden NFL is an American football video game series developed by Electronic Arts Tiburon for EA Sports. The game is named after Pro Football Hall of Famer John Madden, a well-known color commentator for NBC Sports and formerly a Super Bowl-winning head coach during the 1970s with the Oakland Raiders.

8 Tetris June 1985 70 million[9]
Tetris (Russian: Тетрис) is a falling-blocks puzzle video game, created by Alexey Pajitnov and released on a vast spectrum of platforms, from calculators to video game consoles and computers, with the version bundled with the Game Boy the most successful with over 33 million sold.[10]

9 FIFA Christmas 1993 65 million[11]
A series of football (soccer) video games, released yearly by Electronic Arts under the EA Sports label, and the first to have an official licence from the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (International Federation of Association Football), the international governing body of football.

10 Tom Clancy August 21, 1998 55 million[12]
Includes sales from Tom Clancy–sponsored games made by Ubisoft, including Ghost Recon, Rainbow Six, and Splinter Cell.

11 The Legend of Zelda February 21, 1986 52 million[13]
The Legend of Zelda (ゼルダの伝説 Zeruda no Densetsu?) is a high fantasy action-adventure video game series created by game designer Shigeru Miyamoto, developed and published by Nintendo.

12 Nickelodeon
50 million[14]
The Nickelodeon franchise includes licenses like SpongeBob SquarePants and Avatar: The Last Airbender, published by THQ.

13 Sonic the Hedgehog June 23, 1991 50 million[15]
The Sonic the Hedgehog series is a franchise of video games released by Sega starring and named after its mascot character Sonic the Hedgehog, created by Yuji Naka and Naoto Ohshima. With time, it has expanded into animated television series, manga and comic books.

14 Gran Turismo December 23, 1997 50 million shipped[16]
Gran Turismo is a series of racing video games produced by Kazunori Yamauchi for the Sony PlayStation gaming systems by Polyphony Digital.

This young gentleman has it right.