???

there was somebody's maths floating around the net, cant be bothered with the link. Essentially it was based on $170mill US from MS divided into the unit proportions from a major retailer (standard, LE, Legendary) which estimated 2.48 million copies on day one. Google it if you want a link. Rumours are saying the first shipment was 4 million, but here in Australia I know some stores already needed a second shipment.

Here you go starcraft

Bungie has 1.5 million unique players in the last 24 hours. The number does not grow. For the 170$ the question is how many preorders where counted (paid mean sold, even if the copy is yet not picked up). Lets say until ioi's data is there whe only have some clues. From 2 to 3 Million is the reasonable range, i would say.

The 1.5 million unique players in 24 hours really means nothing but in itself that is an impressive number. MS sold 4 million copies to retail distribution, 1+ million were pre-orders so another half million on launch wouldn't be unheard of so i would say close to 2 million units once all the dust settled (those who mail ordered/online ordered and had to wait for the game and such)

These count only registered people on bungie.net because when you play halo3 you see often 500,000 people playing H3 online and when you look at bungie.net you see often 200k people online. 

... well there are many rumors ... but I wouldent trust them ... lets wait for iois update :)

Ioi just jumped in and suggested 2.5 million possible for first week. Pretty good considering the install base