Post-NPD: Microsoft Details Halo 3: ODST Play Hours, Third Party Sales Lead

As ever, Microsoft has released a response to the NPD sales results -- revealing some interesting statistics about Halo 3 gameplay and boasting of third-party Xbox 360 sales of $154 million for the month of September.

Selling 1.5 million copies, Halo 3: ODST was the best-selling game of the overall NPD for September 2009; Xbox 360 claimed five of the top 10 titles.

According to Microsoft, since ODST's release, over five million unique players have racked up playtime with the two Halo 3 titles since the September 2007 launch of Halo 3. Including the original and ODST, gamers have totaled over 116 million hours of play.

[Tinted Eyes]

Even they are doing some Damage control.

[WenisWagon]

These numbers really speak volume about the low quality of games on the playstation 3. If an expansion campaign to a 2 year old game can vastly outsell one of playstation 3's games of the year, then this is horrible news for sony and their little fantards.

[4Sh0w]

or did you think they were going to say "Congratulations Sony for selling more hardware"

No they do what all companies do, talk about what makes their brand look more favorable.

[MasFlowKiller]

"According to Microsoft, since ODST's release, over five million unique players have racked up playtime with the Halo 3: ODST's "

&

"Selling 1.5 million copies, Halo 3: ODST was the best-selling game of the overall NPD for September 2009"

so how is this possible, that a game that sold 1.5 millions copies have 5 million unique players?

are they unique is they are imaginary?

wait completely forgot about gamestop
most of my friend that got it have already traded the game in so i guess it could be possible

[Bot Smasha]

Did you just spin yourself into that toilet?

[indysurfn]

So let me get this straight 140k more Ps3's in September was the big sales spike? You can't catch up with a one month 140k spike! WHAT!? 494k is not enough to over come MILLIONS!!! Halo ODST had TWO DISKS even though all these n4g fantoys where here LIEING about it only being a downloadable expansion? It has a FULL NEW GAME with its own new online maps, AND a extra disk with the Halo 3 maps on it ToO. But they pretend that you only get the expansion disk, and say it is not a full game, and not worth $60. LIARS!!! Just like Sony Lie lie lie! Now they proclaim victory off a one month spike from a $100 price drop? Please, I actually thought it would double sales for the first month ESPECIALLY since they didn't ship anything for two months and stores where out of stock, prior to the price cut, and everyone was WAITING FOR IT for two months.
To the back of the line you will return.

[Bot Smasha]

What a sad life you will have

Edit: what a dark life you have... PSN is dark and lame.. no parties no nothing !

Welcome to Gaystation world

Wow you just proved your 10 years old

[MasFlowKiller]

u do now that the elite had a price cut from 400 to 300 and above that a $50 rebate and they are still selling a console for $200 so if the 360 cant manage to stay ahead of the ps3 its Microsoft fault, that now $100 off add campaign did not work it had the potential but it just not delivering anymore

i want GAME microsoft
GAME
FULL GAMES
PLEASE GIVE ME REAL GAMES

[soxfan2005]

Some people could have rented it.

[Queen Elizabeth II]

The Queen sees a spin

[Queen Elizabeth II]

Poor M$

[NoBias]

Did we not just go through this article a few days ago?

http://n4g.com/NewsCom-4111...

I mean it's still an accomplishment. They sell the hell outta some games. Fact.

[BulletToothtony]

just a diversion.. but the truth is that the 360 still sold a lot of hardware.. it think it's pretty safe to say that both consoles are here to stay..

competition has made both companies push the envelope farther but overall i think that sony has taken the lead and the 360 is gonna have to try harder to keep up..

[IdleLeeSiuLung]

Did you consider that the 5 million unique gamers might be worldwide, while the 1.5 million sold is for US only as reported by NPD?

There are also those that rent it, borrow it, buy it used and steal (pirate) it!

[dreamcast]

lol agreed... like Sony never tried to divert attention at NPD time when they weren't doing so hot.

It's good to see it doing well in the US, but let's see how it does over the next few months.

[Jamie Foxx]

... 'Microsoft claims the lead in revenue for third party game sales in September, with $154 million in sales generated by third parties on the Xbox 360 -- more than the other systems. Unit data was not released by the company, which implies that third party software sales may be higher on another console'

put the proof where your mouth is

[v1c1ous]

yet they still pointed out the positive aspects of their company,

was that "spinning" too?

why don't you pals do yourselves a favor and not comment for the rest of the topic eh?

[Jamie Foxx]

firstly i stated the obvious you seem to take it to heart,spinning and lying are two completely different things saying our '3rd party software is selling tremendously' though you got outsold is 'spinning'

saying 'we have sold more than our competition' but wont produce data especially if its false is called 'lying'

ok....theres the school bell now go home

[v1c1ous]

i must be blind when i saw the NPD have more 360 titles in top 10 SOFTWARE than everyone else.

but you're right. i jumped the gun. you sure schooled me.

[Zack Sawyer]

How naive are you? You single out Microsoft for spinning as though its a terrible horrendous thing and yet Sony do the exact same thing with the figures, they will highlight the fact they sold more hardware to downplay the lesser software sales.

Perhaps before you consider SCHOOLING other people you should try and learn something more about public relations

Theres the school bell but i think you should stay a while longer for extra lessons

[lowcarb]

360 had the best month in september when you really look at software and hardware sales. Sure they sold less but with all the slim hype you would have thought ps3 sold much much more than 360. The only spin is the denial to see just how good 360 did under massive pressure.

[testerg35]

Here's a great spin when PS3 was 3rd every month. "Its selling great considering its $100 more."

[Bot Smasha]

Microsoft right on queue to spin the npd results

[Bot Smasha]

Didnt take em long to start spinning eh?

[Shaka2K6]

.

[Sunny_D]

But bu bu Halo 3 Odst sold so much... Revenue, increase over all other consoles.... bu bu bu... STFU!

PS3 outsold the 360! End of discussion! Microsoft are whiny @ss b!tches! God Damn!

[BO WALEED]

I can play ODST for the rest of my life (Fire Fight) with friends in XBL party.. FTW.

[LordMarius]

Im dizzy

[PimpHandHappy]

i thought it sold 2.5 million on day one

[markbob]

Im guessing that the 2.5 million was worldwide, but I could be wrong. I dont remember the articles on ODST sales.

[4Sh0w]

I think it sold around 1.5 mil the first day in the US, about 2 mil worldwide, its probably pretty close to 3 mil already.

[BO WALEED]

what a dark life you have... PSN is dark and lame.. no parties no nothing !

Welcome to Gaystation world

[LtSkittles]

Name 2 things Xbl has over PSN besides Cross Game chat, and party chat.

Edit @ below

"Netflix HD streaming, better online support, demoes and DLC content comes days before PSN gets it, in-game soundtrack, less lag compared to PSN, better UI, new first-party social networking features coming up, SkyTV, and Last.fm (For parties and to play when you're around the house, not primarily playing the Xbox. Which is good if you like Last.fm through your stereo speakers). No browser on PSN doesn't count, because it doesn't work as well as XBL's Twitter and Facebook (Bugs). And as you mentioned, cross party chat."

PS3 has bluray which is better than Netflix. Nice try though, PS3 does has maintenance done every once in a while(which is probably to stabilize it).Again nice try, oh and it's free so no complaints here. I can go on my PS3's web browser, and go to Facebook, or twitter, and it does count. Finally I said besides cross game chat, because of a leak.

[chrisulloa]

Netflix HD streaming, better online support, demoes and DLC content comes days before PSN gets it, in-game soundtrack, less lag compared to PSN, better UI, new first-party social networking features coming up, SkyTV, and Last.fm (For parties and to play when you're around the house, not primarily playing the Xbox. Which is good if you like Last.fm through your stereo speakers). No browser on PSN doesn't count, because it doesn't work as well as XBL's Twitter and Facebook (Bugs). And as you mentioned, cross party chat.

[BO WALEED]

1 - Non-stop Xbox LIVE Indie Games (Created by people).
2 - All Xbox LIVE trails and playable without even buy them.
3 - Dashboard is very simple, smart and faster than any other system.
4 - very easy to find what you want and each your friends list by many ways..
5 - turn off your Xbox and leave it downloading all over night.
6 - Fast updating.. there is nothing called Updating..(2/13) :P like PS3.
7 - use MSN and chat with friends while playing games.
8 - connect your Mp3 player and enjoy your music in any game.
9 - Better/bigger game library than PS3.
10 - More online players than the PS3.
11 - less LAG issues than PNS.

....oh should I carry on now?

[topdawg122]

Yes Bo Waleed, please carry on. I love looking at everything you have to list down to justify your crap purchase and insecurities lol

[Sitris]

He plays COD with major lag, whilst i played the Uncharted Beta and all ps3 exclusives with full speed no lag watsover, not our fault if 3rd parties can't take advantage of the PSN like all sony's 1st party does.

The biggest PSN benefit is that it's totally free, the fact that you compare a paid for service, to a free one is a plus for us anyway haha

I'm not a basher by any length Xbox live is a great service, and i am aware that he asked you to bash back but comeon half those 'features' are useless.
What features are really necassary for online play. Connection to the games, the fact you pay and i get it free makes me laugh everytime. The in built browser lets me do half that stuff anyway haha

PSN ID: Sitris

[OmarJA]

Poor M$ indeed, ODST is flop sideways both in scores & sales...

10 million 360 owner who bought Halo 3 more than half of them didn't care about this POS.

[Bumpmapping]

360=Titanic Jump out!

[xc7x]

what else were the kids supposed to buy on 360,it's just churning out 1st party quality games left and right,i mean there's umm,and ummm,wait don't TELL me,umm..ok i forgot all the other massive amounts of 1st party games,shut up,i know what ones they are,ummm,,,,there's a lot,got to be..

..ok so scratch what i said,ok there's Halo..and umm,hold up a second peeps,i'm putting on my thinking cap,umm Halo then,umm come on,someone is interrupting me with these disagrees,shhh ok,now where was i,oh Halo and...

[xryls]

I'm having a headache.

[xc7x]

play 2 Halo games and talk to the chief tomorrow

[Briefcase Joe]

Did you skim the article? It clearly says "According to Microsoft, since ODST's release, over five million unique players have racked up playtime with the ***two*** Halo 3 titles since the September 2007 launch of Halo 3."

[Sarcasm]

So why bring up a 2007 game when it clearly has nothing to do with Sept NPD.

[eagle21]

MS got their a$$ whooped. :)

[Triella]

But there's still a problem with your logic : Halo 3 sold over 10 million copies already add the 1.5 million of ODST, that's 11.7 million units sold and only 5 million people have played it online ??

[LtSkittles]

Not every xbox 360 owner has xbl

[Obama]

A sucker is born every minute lamo.

[BrianC6234]

That part about leading in third party sales seems suspect. Everyone knows most third party publishers have reported better sales on the PS3 than the other consoles.

[XDF]

If you read the chart..X360 has 4 of the TOP 10 Third party games..of course it is leading.

Every one did well in September. PS3 was bound for the big sale because of the $100 priced cut while X360 have a pseudo priced cut with the Arcade remaining the same.

No doubt PS3 will win this Holiday but it will be close nevertheless.

Great job Sony. Good Job Microsoft. Wii, don't care.

[Briefcase Joe]

Hahaha. "Great job Sony. Good Job Microsoft. Wii, don't care." That was pretty funny.

[Sir Ken_Kutaragi]

Micro$oft WHY have you NEVER outsold the 'Wii' for in the USA at your LOWER 'xBox 360' $199 price for???
(You had a YEAR to do it!!!)

The 'PS3' outsold the 'Wii' and the 'PS3' is $299???

'xBox 360' + 'M$' = MEGA-FAIL!!! ;-D

[i3eyond the Circle]

ODST probably sold 3mil+ worldwide

The other 2million could be from rentals and piracy.