Halo: Reach Scores $200M in First-Day Sales

Halo: Reach racked up more than $200 million in first-day sales in the United States and Europe, making it one of the most successful game launches ever.

Microsoft says the game, a prequel to its popular Halo franchise, exceeded the first-day earnings of the previous entry in the series, Halo 3, which made $170 million its first day of release in 2007.

The record for first-day sales of a video game was set last year by Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, which took in $310 million its first day.

Part of the discrepancy comes from the Halo series being exclusive to the Xbox 360 platform, while Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 was released for both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 consoles.

Microsoft hailed the release as the biggest entertainment launch of the year, with the one-day gross exceeding the opening-weekend takes of such blockbuster films as Iron Man 2, Alice in Wonderland and Toy Story 3.