Microsoft likes to trumpet their Halo 2 sales figure of $125 million in its first 24 hours at almost every chance they get, but according to a new report in Variety, Microsoft has a new target in its crosshairs: Spider-Man 3.
The company has already stated repeatedly that they fully expect Halo 3 to top Halo 2's first-day sales record, but it would appear that Microsoft would like to edge out Spider-Man 3's opening weekend at the boxoffice, which brought in a record $151 million for Sony Pictures.
"We did $125 million last time," Microsoft director of creative marketing Chris Di Cesare told Variety. "We're confident we can do better."
Although Microsoft is looking to top the record holder at the boxoffice, he cautioned that comparisons to movies aren't quite fair. "I caution the comparison at times," Di Cesare said. "I recognize it's not apples to apples. But it's big business any way you cut it."
Indeed. Microsoft has sold nearly 15 million copies of Halo 1 and 2 since the franchise made its debut with the original Xbox in 2001, earning roughly $700 million. Moreover, Halo 3 is already the fastest selling pre-ordered video game in history, having recently surpassed the 1 million mark. And the game has support from several top brands, including Burger King, 7-Eleven, Mountain Dew, Comcast, and Pontiac.
Similar to the blockbuster marketing campaign Electronic Arts has put together for Madden 08, Di Cesare said, "We've taken a very event-film approach to the launch."
He added that before Halo 2, "People didn't understand the scale or size of what Halo was. When we went to talk to promotional partners, you'd spend half the meeting talking about the videogame business. When we opened to $125 million, that really caught a lot of people's attention. It showed that videogames were no longer that thing that kids play in their basement."
by James Brightman
source:gamedaily.com
