Following the game’s release in 20 countries, Microsoft has also stated that 1.5m individual gamers played Gears of War 2 over Xbox Live last weekend, “racking up a total 15m gameplay hours and helping set a new record for concurrent Live players.”
Major Nelson’s blog has also stated that the game had collectively unlocked over 19m achievements.
“We were so excited to launch Gears of War 2 on the same day all around the world, something virtually unheard of in the games business,” says Cliff Bleszinski, design director at Epic Games. “We wanted our fans, no matter where they live, to have a shared experience on day one, and that’s exactly what’s happened.”
By contrast, recent reports show that Far Cry 2 has sold over 1m, and Bethesda’s Fallout 3 had shipped close to 4.7m copies worldwide within the space of a week.