The Halo Franchise Sales History: A Collection Of Data

[Welfare]

So we are approaching E3 and the re reveal of Halo Infinite. We have threads on sales numbers all the time, and even dedicated threads for certain individual items that constantly track sales updates. I figured we could have a collection thread for Halo. Before, I thought I had a good idea of sales for the franchise but after doing some digging there is a lot more data I didn't know was out there and figured others haven't seen these either. In fact, many sites use incorrect and flat out wrong material after researching everything.

I am keeping this OP to official data only. No guesstimates or ranges. Just pure reported data, all sourced to the most official outlets. The VGSales page is highly inaccurate due to VGChartz use and there isn't a place that organizes this stuff. Some early sources are dead so I had to pull out the Wayback Machine. Below this post all the speculation in the world is permitted. There is a lot to post so I'll start with a timeline of the franchise from day 1, then list the data for each game separately.

It should also be stressed that unless specifically stated by Microsoft, every number is Shipped, meaning units distributed to retailers + digital when available. Sources citing NPD is sold through, for example.

Franchise
April 8, 2002: 1,000,000 North America Source
July 14, 2003: 3,000,000 Worldwide Source
January 28, 2004: 4,000,000 Worldwide Source
October 19, 2004: 5,000,000 Worldwide Source
December 3, 2004: 11,000,000 Worldwide Source
January 20, 2005: 12,800,000 Worldwide Source
February 9, 2006: 14,500,000 Worldwide Source
October 4, 2007: 20,000,000 Worldwide Source
January 8, 2009: 25,000,000 Worldwide Source
May 24, 2010: 34,000,000 Worldwide Source
October 31, 2012: 46,000,000 Worldwide Source
December 6, 2012: 50,000,000 Worldwide Source
October 20, 2014: 60,000,000 Worldwide Source
July 13, 2015: 65,000,000 Worldwide Source
February 24, 2021: 81,000,000 Worldwide Source

Obviously, the first 5M are all Halo CE. To note, it's only the Xbox version. That's because when the first franchise total comes in at 11M, Halo 2 is at 5M and is supposed to be over Halo CE at 5M, which only adds up to 10M. The PC version is the remainder. The Microsoft PR linked for 5M also talks about how CE was "Developed exclusively for Xbox" and sold 5M. Then when the franchise total of 12.8M is reached, they specifically say PC sales are included.

US Franchise
July 28, 2010: All Halo - 21,000,000 Source
July 28, 2010: Xbox Halo - 11,000,000 Source
July 28, 2010: Xbox 360 Halo - 10,000,000 Source

NPD data given to IGN that doesn't include PC.

Halo: Combat Evolved
April 8, 2002: 1,000,000 North America Source
July 14, 2003: 3,000,000 Worldwide Source
January 28, 2004: 4,000,000 Worldwide Source
October 19, 2004: 5,000,000 Worldwide Source
December 3, 2004: 6,000,000 Worldwide Source
January 20, 2005: 6,400,000 Worldwide Source
February 9, 2006: 7,200,000 Worldwide Source

PC gets added to the total at the 6M update. Out of 11M total franchise units, 5M are Halo 2. That leaves 6M for CE Xbox and PC. The next franchise update at 12.8M has Halo 2 selling 6.4M, meaning the other 6.4M is CE.

Halo 2
October 19, 2004: 1,500,000 United States Source
November 10, 2004: 2,400,000 North America Source
December 3, 2004: 5,000,000 Worldwide Source
January 20, 2005: 6,400,000 Worldwide Source
November 9, 2005: 7,000,000 Worldwide Source
February 9, 2006: 7,300,000 Worldwide Source
May 9, 2006: 8,000,000 Worldwide Source

October 2004 is pre orders 3 weeks before the game launched.

The 8M number only comes from CNN Money and I don't know where they got it. It could be from Microsoft or from an analytic firm. This is the only suspect number here.

January 20, 2005: 4,400,000 United States Source
September 25, 2007: 6,300,000 United States Source

The above is NPD data.

Halo 3
August 9, 2007: 1,000,000 North America Source
September 24, 2007: 1,700,000 United States Source
September 27, 2007: $170,000,000 United States Source
October 4, 2007: $300,000,000 Worldwide Source
January 4, 2008: 8,100,000 Worldwide Source

Pre September 25 is pre order sales. $170M is Day 1. $300M is Week 1.

Something important to note is the Halo 3 14.5M number that gets thrown around from here Source. That is incorrectly attributed to that game when it is actually referring to the franchise before Halo 3. It's the same PR from when Halo 2 Vista was announced in 2006. There is even a 2008 article with the blurb Source so yeah, it's not Halo 3 that sold 14.5M. At least, you can't say the game sold 14.5M BECAUSE of that blurb, it's not a source for that fact.

Halo Wars
March 19, 2009: 1,000,000 Worldwide Source
June 2012: +2,000,000 Worldwide Source Picture Below

Halo 3: ODST
November 13, 2009: 3,000,000 Worldwide Source
June 2012: 5,000,000 Worldwide Source Picture Below

Halo Reach
September 15, 2010: $200,000,000 Worldwide Source
October 28, 2010: $350,000,000 Worldwide Source
June 2012: 7,000,000 Worldwide Source Picture Below

$350M is 16 days

Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary
June 2012: +1,500,000 Worldwide Source Picture Below

Halo 4
November 12, 2012: $220,000,000 Worldwide Source
July 3, 2013: Fastest Selling Microsoft Studios Title In Launch Fiscal Year United States Source

The 2013 update is less well known and doesn't have a number to it, but is important. The "Fiscal Year" refers to Microsoft's July - June reporting year. This report says that Halo 4 July 2012 - June 2013 sales are higher than Halo 3 July 2007 - June 2008. Halo 3 actually had more time on the market, being a September launch, compared to Halo 4's November release.

Halo 5
2015: 5,000,000 Worldwide Source

Source is Frank O' Conner, Franchise Development Director at 343. First 3 months are the whole of 2015. October, November, December.

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The following is a retailer quiz on the Halo Franchise for the build up to Halo 4 from Microsoft. This is the June 2012 Source.

I hope this was informative and helps to clear up some long standing misconceptions on certain game's sales. If there was anything I missed (I'll maybe add player counts later) please share.

 

[PlanetSmasher]

Halo 2 and 3's launches were fucking events. When I was in college, I didn't even have an OG XB and I still bought Halo 2 just so I could bring it to my neighbor's dorm and we could play together.

I'm not surprised H3 is the top of the pile sales-wise. That game came out when Xbox was at its absolute peak popularity and the game (well, mostly) actually paid off what they promised, compared to H2 which had a more uneven reception at the time.

 

[Eamon]

I wonder how feasible Halo hitting the 100 million mark in the next few years will be - Halo Infinite launching on Xbox One, Xbox Series, and PC you'd think would help. But then again, it will also be launching into Game Pass and will have a F2P multiplayer suite.

Would it be the first non-Nintendo exclusive franchise to hit 100 million units sold? I imagine Gran Turismo is up there too.

 

[Lumination]

Peaked at 3 confirmed.

 

[Lelouch0612]

Fantastic work Welfare !

 

[rrc1594]

H5 sold 5M in 3 months? Why is Halo in trouble again?

 

[cw_sasuke]

Great thread and data, love to see stuff like this.

 

[TheUnsungHero26]

Halo 3 was the first time I remember a video game launch feeling like an event.

I'd be really interested to see the MCC's sales data. Though perhaps that's not the most important metric given Game Pass.

 

[cluk]

Peaked at 3 confirmed.

Click to shrink...

Or maybe it's just the first wave ;)

 

[Yuntu]

H5 sold 5M in 3 months? Why is Halo in trouble again?

Click to shrink...

Dead franchise and all that ... or something? People are weird is probably the explanation.

 

[PlanetSmasher]

Halo 3 was the first time I remember a video game launch feeling like an event.

I'd be really interested to see the MCC's sales data. Though perhaps that's not the most important metric given Game Pass.

Click to shrink...

Halo 3 and GTA4 were the ones I remember. I worked the midnight launch for GTA4 when I was a GameStop ASM and that was mindblowing. Our mall was a pretty big deal, but our line was somewhere along the lines of 300 people.

Halo 2 was an event as well, but not on the scale 3's was.

 

[RF Switch]

Halo Infinites launch is going to be an absolute monster of an event. I can't believe anyone would think otherwise

 

[VorpalNonsense]

Halo 2 and 3's launches were fucking events. When I was in college, I didn't even have an OG XB and I still bought Halo 2 just so I could bring it to my neighbor's dorm and we could play together.

I'm not surprised H3 is the top of the pile sales-wise. That game came out when Xbox was at its absolute peak popularity and the game (well, mostly) actually paid off what they promised, compared to H2 which had a more uneven reception at the time.

Click to shrink...

Halo 2 was a hell of a thing, it was all over the news. A lot of people don't remember how much of a meteor impact it was.

I never forget the short interaction I had when I went to pickup my copy. I strolled in leisurely a couple hours after opening. The gamestop employees looks like they had been through war. One of them just glanced at me wide eyed and said "halo 2?" I said "yup, limited" and they just handed it to me without another word. They didn't even check my receipt. They were too tired, and seemingly just wanted it to end.

 

[Xwing]

Halo Infinite launching simultaneously on Xbox and PC will give Halo 3's final number a run for its money if not surpass it in the long run.

Would love to see data on MCC since it launched on PC.

 

[Tallshortman]

I wonder how feasible Halo hitting the 100 million mark in the next few years will be - Halo Infinite launching on Xbox One, Xbox Series, and PC you'd think would help. But then again, it will also be launching into Game Pass and will have a F2P multiplayer suite.

Would it be the first non-Nintendo exclusive franchise to hit 100 million units sold? I imagine Gran Turismo is up there too.

Click to shrink...

GTA5 alone has sold 145 million units so no. CoD is likely the best selling franchise in history given they typically sell over 20 million units per main entry.

 

[Kittenz]

I was in the friends and family beta for Halo 3 and was playing it a few days before the Crackdown kids got into it -- and my inbox blew up as everyone saw my status. The 2007 version of going viral.

Then I remember on launch, I scrolled through my Xbox friends list and every single one of them showed as playing Halo 3. Probably 80% logged in, all playing H3. Bonkers.

 

[GING-SAMA]

Hope Halo come back to the top with his F2P 🙏

Halo 3 days was so much incredible

 

[PlanetSmasher]

Halo 2 was a hell of a thing, it was all over the news. A lot of people don't remember how much of a meteor impact it was.

I never forget the short interaction I had when I went to pickup my copy. I strolled in leisurely a couple hours after opening. The gamestop employees looks like they had been through war. One of them just glanced at me wide eyed and said "halo 2?" I said "yup, limited" and they just handed it to me without another word. They didn't even check my receipt. They were too tired, and seemingly just wanted it to end.

Click to shrink...

God, I know that feeling - those poor bastards worked the midnight launch. I was like that after GTAIV came out. I was the lowest-ranking assistant manager at my store so I had to work the midnight launch and then come back to open the store the next morning. I was a living corpse. You could've robbed me and I wouldn't have stopped you.

Halo 3's midnight launch, by comparison, I just hung around in the back room of the store until midnight playing on my PSP and then took my copy and went home. I got to walk out the door with the second or third copy we sold and just walked past all the lines like "HAAAAAAAAAAAA". I never worked another midnight launch after GTAIV, lol.

 

[Kittenz]

Halo Infinite launching simultaneously on Xbox and PC will give Halo 3's final number a run for its money if not surpass it in the long run.

Would love to see data on MCC since it launched on PC.

Click to shrink...

Well let me help you out on that.

As of this April over 10 million uniques.

 

[TheUnsungHero26]

Halo 3 and GTA4 were the ones I remember. I worked the midnight launch for GTA4 when I was a GameStop ASM and that was mindblowing. Our mall was a pretty big deal, but our line was somewhere along the lines of 300 people.

Halo 2 was an event as well, but not on the scale 3's was.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, GTA IV was definitely the next big one after Halo 3.

Despite games now being bigger and more "mainstream", I don't think anything will match the launch of those two games for me. I guess I've just become desensitized to it.

 

[Xwing]

I was in the friends and family beta for Halo 3 and was playing it a few days before the Crackdown kids got into it -- and my inbox blew up as everyone saw my status. The 2007 version of going viral.

Then I remember on launch, I scrolled through my Xbox friends list and every single one of them showed as playing Halo 3. Probably 80% logged in, all playing H3. Bonkers.

Click to shrink...

I still have never seen any game launch approach the insanity of Halo 3's in terms of number of friends online playing simultaneously. Blew my mind that half my high school was talking about it.

 

[BloodHound]

During the 360, all the xbox launches were events. Gears was fucking massive. Halo was massive. Hell, even Forza was big time. All that marketing died during the Xbox one era and Sony was like "Lets do what the 360 did"

 

[Mecha]

Love this kind of threads and appreciate the hard work. Great stuff op.

 

[PlanetSmasher]

I was in the friends and family beta for Halo 3 and was playing it a few days before the Crackdown kids got into it -- and my inbox blew up as everyone saw my status. The 2007 version of going viral.

Then I remember on launch, I scrolled through my Xbox friends list and every single one of them showed as playing Halo 3. Probably 80% logged in, all playing H3. Bonkers.

Click to shrink...

I still considered it a point of personal pride that Bungie personally invited me to one or two of the early Halo 3 betas, especially before I was even part of the games press. I know they didn't know I was a giant Myth 2 fanboy as a kid, but I felt like that was why they did it anyway.

I miss the Bungie.net gameplay tracker days. I spent so much time on there.

 

[Doskoi Panda]

H5 sold 5M in 3 months? Why is Halo in trouble again?

Click to shrink...

Because those aren't Call of Duty numbers I guess

Given how poorly the Xbox One performed on the whole, I'd say that those numbers paint a very different story than you'd hear from people who never really liked Halo 5.

Might not stop those people from repeating how they feel about the franchise as if it were fact, though. Has it been in decline relative to its peak performance? Sure. Is it a dying franchise with little to no remaining prestige or selling power, like some would have us believe? Not a chance

 

[Xwing]

Well let me help you out on that.

As of this April over 10 million uniques.

Click to shrink...

 

[Eamon]

GTA5 alone has sold 145 million units so no. CoD is likely the best selling franchise in history given they typically sell over 20 million units per main entry.

Click to shrink...

I suppose my question wasn't clear - I am aware other franchises have hit the 100 million mark (or higher). But I don't believe any exclusive franchises, outside of Nintendo's, have done so. And was wondering if Halo would be the first.

 

[Welfare]

H5 sold 5M in 3 months? Why is Halo in trouble again?

Click to shrink...

It's the slowest selling main game not named Combat Evolved.

Halo 2 did 5M in 3 weeks and was at 6.4M in 2 months.
Halo 3 did 5M is a little over a week and 8.1M in little over 3 months.
Reach did over 5M in September ($350M).
4 was the fastest selling game in the US for the first FY, meaning it was outdoing Halo 3. It did over 4M week 1.

The Halo 5 number is also shipped (just like every other number). We have NPD leaks for Halo 5 2015 and the absolute best it could have sold with digital was 2.5M.

I didn't go over it in the OP but Halo is a massive US franchise. Look at the US data IGN got. 21M sold through compared to 34M shipped is a minimum 62% share. Add in PC sales and a bit more for shipments in the US and the US is more around 65% of total Halo sales. Halo 5 would be under 4M sold through in 2015 using that share.

Now, Halo isn't in trouble. MCC PC shows that there is still a ton of interest in the franchise. Halo 5 just shows there wasn't interest in what 343 was selling, which is kind of why Infinite is being marketed as a reboot. You don't market and pivot away from something that was popular and successful, you know?

 

[cluk]

It's the slowest selling main game not named Combat Evolved.

Halo 2 did 5M in 3 weeks and was at 6.4M in 2 months.
Halo 3 did 5M is a little over a week and 8.1M in little over 3 months.
Reach did over 5M in September ($350M).
4 was the fastest selling game in the US for the first FY, meaning it was outdoing Halo 3. It did over 4M week 1.

The Halo 5 number is also shipped (just like every other number). We have NPD leaks for Halo 5 2015 and the absolute best it could have sold with digital was 2.5M.

I didn't go over it in the OP but Halo is a massive US franchise. Look at the US data IGN got. 21M sold through compared to 34M shipped is a minimum 62% share. Add in PC sales and a bit more for shipments in the US and the US is more around 65% of total Halo sales. Halo 5 would be under 4M sold through in 2015 using that share.

Now, Halo isn't in trouble. MCC PC shows that there is still a ton of interest in the franchise. Halo 5 just shows there wasn't interest in what 343 was selling, which is kind of why Infinite is being marketed as a reboot. You don't market and pivot away from something that was popular and successful, you know?

Click to shrink...

But also remember that Halo 5 has made more money than any other Halo game.

 

[Welfare]

But also remember that Halo 5 has made more money than any other Halo game.

Click to shrink...

That includes hardware as well. The other games revenue are software only. It's why I didn't include it in the OP.

One week after launching worldwide, Halo 5: Guardians has made history as the biggest Halo launch and fastest-selling Xbox One exclusive game to-date, with more than $400 million in global sales of Halo 5: Guardians games and hardware, pushing the franchise to over $5 billion lifetime.

Click to shrink...

 

[Theorry]

Halo Infinite is gonna be really hard to compare. Xbox and PC, gamepass, F2P. Does one compensate for the other etc?
Its kinda all new for Halo that you are better off starting from scratch then to compare.

 

[PlanetSmasher]

Halo Infinite is gonna be really hard to compare. Xbox and PC, gamepass, F2P. Does one compensate for the other etc?
Its kinda all new for Halo that you are better off starting from scratch then to compare.

Click to shrink...

I would say that statistically, just based on the platform breakdown, the only way it'll do worse than 5 is if something goes catastrophically wrong. Even though I'm not personally a fan of 343i or the direction they've taken the series, I don't think that's gonna happen.

 

[Trey]

GTA5 alone has sold 145 million units so no. CoD is likely the best selling franchise in history given they typically sell over 20 million units per main entry.

Click to shrink...

They're talking about exclusive game franchises. Only Nintendo has 100m+ selling exclusive game franchises currently.

 

[Bobbyleejones]

You can't use sales numbers now. It's gonna unique users. Due to F2P and gamepass. The main thing is retention of users. Have a year delay could have been a blessing. As the devs had to work on post launch content also

 

[Welfare]

Halo Infinite is gonna be really hard to compare. Xbox and PC, gamepass, F2P. Does one compensate for the other etc?
Its kinda all new for Halo that you are better off starting from scratch then to compare.

Click to shrink...

If the campaign can offer enough freedom and replayability, it can have legs.

I really want a great campaign!

 

[Outrun]

H5 sold 5M in 3 months? Why is Halo in trouble again?

Click to shrink...

Because of Sprint.

...and only sprint...

/s

 

[NuclearCake]

Halo 3 being peak is not surprising.

 

[cluk]

That includes hardware as well. The other games revenue are software only. It's why I didn't include it in the OP.

Click to shrink...

Well that's one week after launch, so wouldn't microtransactions have pushed it over the edge?

 

[Bobbyleejones]

I guess my question is. If GTA online was f2p after a year of release, would it have sold the astronomical numbers it did

 

[SolidSnakeUS]

Imagine if they didn't fuck up the PC version of Halo 2. Imagine if they actually sold the games alongside the PC. Those numbers would be way higher.

 

[FarSight XR-20]

Interesting data.

Halo Infinite will certainly be the biggest launch in the series (though it's hard to compare now with F2P Multiplayer). Warzone and Apex both hit 50M players in a month (on PS4, Xbox One and PC). I wonder what numbers will do Halo. Really looking forward the Multiplayer / Forge reveal.

 

[Deleted member 10795]

Halo 3 launch is probably the most exciting time I've ever experienced in games. Something about that era of hype and midnight launches etc was just lightning in a bottle. It was a great time to be in your early 20's with a bunch of friends and free time.

 

[Welfare]

Well that's one week after launch, so wouldn't microtransactions have pushed it over the edge?

Click to shrink...

Pacther said that 6 months after Halo 5, the MTX revenue was higher than lifetime DLC sales for any other Halo game. Not combined, but 5 > 3, 5 > 4 etc.

Thing is that the other games also had hardware bundles and sold way more software than 5. In the end Halo 3 would still be the peak.

 

[Welfare]

Imagine if they didn't fuck up the PC version of Halo 2. Imagine if they actually sold the games alongside the PC. Those numbers would be way higher.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, a 2 year late PC port of CE pushed over 1M copies. I guess Microsoft thought Halo 2 would be enough to push Vista and the GFWL, but yeah that bombed.

 

[SolidSnakeUS]

Yeah, a 2 year late PC port of CE pushed over 1M copies. I guess Microsoft thought Halo 2 would be enough to push Vista and the GFWL, but yeah that bombed.

Click to shrink...

Easily two of the worst things MS has ever made, and that's saying something considering it's right up there with Windows ME and UWP.

 

[Trey]

Bring Halo 5 to PC you cowards. You're already partially there with the Forge app. Let me give you this bread, 343.

 

[Theorry]

If the campaign can offer enough freedom and replayability, it can have legs.

I really want a great campaign!

Click to shrink...

oh sure. Just talking in general. So many different metrics now.

 

[MrTired]

Well that's one week after launch, so wouldn't microtransactions have pushed it over the edge?

Click to shrink...

Pacther said that 6 months after Halo 5, the MTX revenue was higher than lifetime DLC sales for any other Halo game. Not combined, but 5 > 3, 5 > 4 etc.

Thing is that the other games also had hardware bundles and sold way more software than 5. In the end Halo 3 would still be the peak.

Click to shrink...

This was from the end of 2018 but shows how big Halo was at its peak. I won't be surprised if the quote below is still true.

To be fair, Halo 3 generated higher revenue in its first month on sale than Halo 5 has done LTD.

Click to shrink...

 

[Eamon]

Halo 3 being peak is not surprising.

Click to shrink...

Halo 3 Youtube was peak youtube

 

[Welfare]

This was from the end of 2018 but shows how big Halo was at its peak. I won't be surprised if the quote below is still true.

Click to shrink...

It is. Post 2018 is when MCC saw its resurgence and it's been selling more than Halo 5 since.

Like, that Zhuge quote would mean Halo 5 at best crawled to 3.3M in the US and then 5M sell through worldwide. Meaning It's below every main line title and on par with ODST.

That's why Infinite is as far away from Halo 5 as possible and billed as a "spiritual" reboot. 5 was not popular or successful.