260% sales jump for Xbox

Microsoft is celebrating a gigantic spike in Xbox 360 sales – as it prepares to splash out a whopping 4 million on marketing for the release of Halo 3.

According to ChartTrack data, the platform holder enjoyed a 260 per cent rise in sales of its next-gen format two weeks ago (week 34), after introducing the Elite model to the market and dropping the price of its Core and Premium consoles.

Perhaps even more impressively, sales only dipped 20 per cent the following week (week 35) – leaving up-to-date calendar year sales 4.9 per cent higher than they were in 2006.

And now the firm is set to splash the cash on ‘phase two’ of its pre-Christmas 360 sales push with the release of system seller Halo 3 – which it is backing with what it calls the ‘biggest entertainment launch of all time’.

We’ve seen what the previous two iterations of Halo did for console sales, so we’re anticipating an incredible amount of demand come the launch of Halo 3,” said Microsoft’s head of gaming and entertainment Stephen McGill.

The day one revenue of Halo 2 was the biggest number for the launch of any entertainment property. That has since been surpassed by Spider-Man 3 and Pirates of the Caribbean 3. But we’re confident Halo 3 will take back this accolade.

It’s only when you start comparing figures to the launch of huge films that it really hits home – this really will be the biggest entertainment launch of all time.”