Microsoft: $100 million in day one Halo 2 sales

Reuters is reporting that at the Harris Nesbitt Playtime 2004 Investor Conference, held today in New York City, Microsoft's corporate vice president of retail sales and marketing Peter Moore told attendees just how much cash he expects the Microsoft-published Halo 2 to generate on its first day at retail.

"I'm calling a $100 million day on Halo today" Moore reportedly said. Backing Moore up on the important day for Microsoft was none other than Microsoft chairman Bill Gates who, at a Microsoft shareholders meeting also held today, said, "In the first 24 hours we'll have an opening that's [more] popular than any motion picture has ever had in history."

According to the Reuters dispatch, Moore elaborated on the figure, stating that he expected $78 million of today's take will have been generated by preorders. Also presenting at the Nesbitt Harris event was EB Games CEO Jeff Griffiths. Griffiths commented on the impact the game was expected to have on his company's bottom line. "We think that this will be the biggest launch in the history of EB, perhaps the biggest launch in the history of video games."

Of course, no exact revenue tally is known yet, but very likely, the day will go on as one of the most profitable for all parties connected with the Xbox title. Of the over 25,000 retail stores that sell video games in the US, it's estimated that there were 7,000 locations that opened at 12:01am Tuesday, specifically to enable gamers to get their hands on Halo 2 early.

Long-term prospects for sales of Halo 2 are mostly rosy. Industry analyst Michael Pachter of Wedbush Morgan Securities told Reuters, "I'd say 60 percent penetration on the console is a good number, so you're looking at 10 million copies worldwide." He estimates half that amount would sell through in the game's first month at retail.