Halo 4 earned $220 million worldwide during its first 24 hours on sale. According to Microsoft, Halo 4 saw the biggest launch of any Halo game ever and is on track to make $300 million in its first week. Microsoft called the first day sales “the biggest entertainment launch of the year to date,” out-grossing the first 24 hours of The Avengers and beating the biggest single-day film debut of all time, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2.

Microsoft reports that the launch pushes the franchise to $3.38 billion in lifetime earnings. Halo 4 also saw more players than ever online, with 4 million in its first five days. 31.4 million hours were spent playing, pushing the franchise past five billion hours to date.

“We’re thrilled that Halo 4 has emerged as the biggest U.S. entertainment launch of the year,” said Microsoft Studios corporate vice president Phil Spencer. “Thanks to the millions of fans worldwide who helped make this another record-breaking launch for the Halo franchise, Halo 4 is kicking off a strong holiday season and has become the must-have blockbuster experience of the year.”

This isn’t the first broken record for Halo 4, as the soundtrack became the highest-charting video game album ever earlier this month. Last month, Microsoft reported that 46 million Halo games have been sold since its launch in 2001.

Microsoft hasn’t released actual sales numbers for Halo 4 just yet, but expect them to be announced soon as the game continues to gain momentum. For reference, last year’s Modern Warfare 3 earned $400 million in its first day on sale by selling 6.5 million copies worldwide.

Andrew Goldfarb is IGN’s associate news editor. Keep up with pictures of the latest food he’s been eating by following @garfep on Twitter or garfep on IGN.

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