Network now...NEWS
Halo Wars Sells 1m
Ensemble Studio’s final game, Halo Wars, has sold over one million units worldwide, according to Microsoft.
The platform holder states that this feat makes it the “best selling real-time strategy game on any current generation console”. Last month Microsoft reported that total downloads for the Halo Wars demo were numbered at around two million.
The title’s debut week in the UK saw it enter the charts in second place, behind Guerrilla’s Killzone 2, and subsequently take a 54 percent sales drop. Today it sits at ninth in the charts.
Microsoft adds that, since launch, the RTS has hosted over 2.6 million multiplayer matches, with some 200,000 online battles occurring on an average day.
In a concluding turn to a peculiar series of events, Microsoft was also pleased to confirm that it is “working closely” with the newly-formed developer Robot Entertainment – a group formed from the ashes of Ensemble when Microsoft decided to axe the studio.
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The Halo name is the only reason this has done well. It is a decidedly average RTS and as an RTS does not belong on a console. Compare it to, say, Company of Heroes on the PC and Halo Wars suddenly start seeming like the simplistic pribble it actually is.
These are quite impressive numbers for a console RTS.
1 million not good enough? I know of a certain quite large franchise that limped to 1 million sales in the US (I know the story stated worldwide Halo Wars sales but I think by the time it's done selling it'll hit 1 million in the US).
Anyway...I say congrats to Enemble and MS. Console RTSs are a tough sell and for one to hit 1 million that's an impressive feat (although, I'm sure the Halo name had a bit to do with its success...). ^^
David Jaffe noted a while ago that with current gaming budgets selling a million is really the very lowest you want to do. While the old "sold a million copies" still sounds and is great, if they don't break even then its not enough.
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3519/navigating_a_crossroads_david...
Just read that interview and its not digital distribution Mr Jaffe needs its going multi-platform and not just developing for the PS3 which in finanncial terms is the most expensive.As for his asertion that the industry looses 1 billion dollars a year in used game sales what i,d like him to consider is how many old titles are traded against NEW titles? trading back games allows me to buy MORE titles i would not bother with.
I think by the time it's done selling it'll hit 1 million in the US
As long as you're in a speculatin' mood, care to hazard a guess as to what percentage of GameStop used shelf space will be given over to copies of this game once the Xbox Live Halo Fanboy Army realizes this installment doesn't allow teabagging?
I'm sure the Halo name had a bit to do with its success
Yeah, JUST A BIT.
Lol, I'm not even sure what that really means but it was pretty funny. I think the game will sell 1 million copies in the US. As far as the rest of what you said, again, I don't really know what to say other than just laugh.
Yeah, I was being facetious when I said the Halo name had something to do with it, but it's still a solid RTS nonetheless.
I'm sorry that the first part of my comment was so difficult for you to parse. Here, let me dumb it down a little for you.
What I was saying is that while this title may have posted impressive initial sales, I have doubts as to whether a significant percentage of those early buyers will find lasting appeal in the title. Therefore, my own prediction is that it will soon be occupying a disproportionately large amount of shelf space in the used section of your local GameStop.
In other words, this is not so much a great breakthrough in console RTS design as much as it is a successful experiment in "hey, we've spent hundreds of millions of dollars promoting the Halo brand and slapping it on everything from spin-off novels to pillowcases to energy drinks; why not see what happens when we slap in on a fair to middling RTS title?"
Is it safe to assume that "Halo: Masters of Teras Kasai" and "You're in the Movies—with Master Chief!" will soon follow? All signs point to yes.
(Disclosure: I played the demo and it's not a terrible game, but I'll be sticking with Advance Wars, kthx. You want to talk "breakthrough console RTS," look no further.)
Well said Dubs. I thought you were leaning more toward saying all Halo players all teenage boys who just want to talk smack. So I didn't even want to comment.
I think the simplicity of the game was intentional since I'm sure they thought many non RTS fans (like myself) would have a reason now to pick one up and give it a shot. It still really isn't my thing, but I haven't really given it much of a chance (wife and kids kinda killing my game time as of late).
Yes, I know they milk the hell out of Halo (why I put the comment that I'm sure the name had to do with sales). But like you said, a competent or at least average RTS. Does it deserve the sales it's getting? Who knows.
Isn't Advance Wars a DS game?
*golf clap*