Microsoft has gone all out when it comes to promoting the mega-sequel Halo 5: Guardians, which includes hosting a worldwide global celebration with a six-hour live-streaming event and an elaborate TV campaign that hinted at a conflict between veteran Master Chief and newcomer character, Spartan Locke. It looks like this has all paid off, since not only is Guardians a huge financial success, but its marketing blitz earned a spot in the Guinness World Records in the process.
Halo 5: Guardians has generated over $400 million in global sales in its first week, topping the previous record of $300 million set by Halo 4 back in 2012. This makes Guardians the “biggest Halo launch to date,” pushing the overall franchise lifetime revenue to over $5 billion. These sales numbers also include hardware bundles, such as the special Halo 5 Xbox One package, which retails for for $499.
However, Microsoft’s six-hour live broadcast did more than increase hype for the long-awaited sequel than anything else. Guinness World Records officially recognized it as the “Most Watched Video Game Launch Broadcast” in history. Aired on both the Xbox YouTube channel on and Xbox One game consoles, over 330,000 unique streams were accounted for, and 5.5 million views were garnered by the end of the first week.
The broadcast deserved the attention, since it featured a variety of original content for fans to enjoy. They included behind-the-scenes interviews with the development team, talks with actor Nathan Fillion (who voices the character Buck), and a sneak peek at a new animated series based on Halo: The Fall of Reach, which launches sometime next year.
Halo 5: Guardians is Microsoft’s biggest weapon in the upcoming holiday sales war. Other big draws include various console bundles such as the new Xbox One Elite package, along with popular game exclusives like racing simulator Forza Motorsport 6 and the highly-anticipated Rise of the Tomb Raider, which arrives next week. For now, Halo is doing a fantastic job with rocking the world.
