Microsoft estimates $100 million opening day for Halo 2

The US launch of Halo 2 may have been the single largest media launch in history, if figures cited by Microsoft corporate vice president Peter Moore prove true - with the firm expecting to realise $100 million in retail revenue from the game on day one.

Speaking to an investor conference in New York, Moore announced that "I'm calling a $100 million day on Halo today," going on to explain that $78 million of the first day take is expected to come from pre-orders.

Moore had the backing of Microsoft chairman Bill Gates for his statement, with the world's richest man telling a shareholders meeting that "in the first 24 hours we'll have an opening that's [more] popular than any motion picture has ever had in history."

If Microsoft's figures prove true - and comments from key retailers suggest that they could well do so - then Xbox exclusive title Halo 2 will have been the single biggest launch for any media product ever in the United States, which is a hugely impressive feat - especially given the installed base of the Xbox, which is relatively low compared to the rival PlayStation 2 console.

Projections for the lifetime sales of the product are also optimistic, with some analysts expecting to see it selling up to twice as many units as the original Halo did - putting the figures into the realms of 10 million plus selling titles such as the three PS2 Grand Theft Auto games.

"I'd say 60 per cent penetration on the console is a good number," Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Pachter told Reuters this week, "so you're looking at 10 million copies worldwide."