 GameSpot reported 4 @.@ 2 million units of Halo 3 were in retail outlets on September 24 , 2007 , a day before official release – a world record volume . Halo 3 broke the previous record for the highest grossing opening day in entertainment history , making US $ 170 million in its first twenty @-@ four hours . Worldwide , sales exceeded US $ 300 million the first week , helping to more than double the sales of the Xbox 360 when compared with the weekly average before the Halo 3 launch . At the end of 2007 , Halo 2 and Halo : Combat Evolved were the number one and two best @-@ selling Xbox titles , respectively , and Halo 3 was the best @-@ selling Xbox 360 title . Halo Wars was the best @-@ selling RTS console game , selling more than one million units . The Halo series went on to sell more than 27 million copies by August 2009 , and more than 34 million copies by May 2010 . Tor Books reported that sales of all franchise materials are greater than $ 1 @.@ 7 billion , and Bungie 's games before Reach accounted for $ 1 @.@ 5 billion in sales . The soundtracks to Halo 2 , Halo 3 , ODST and Reach all appeared on the Billboard 200 charts for at least one week . By May 2011 , total gross of Halo merchandise was $ 2 billion , with 40 million copies of the games sold . The total amount climbed to $ 2 @.@ 3 billion in July 2011 , and $ 2 @.@ 8 billion in January 2012 . Total franchise grosses exceeded $ 4 @.@ 6 billion by October 2015 , with 25 % of the figure from non @-@ game @-@ related merchandise . 
