Gears of War sales reach 3 million worldwide

Redmond (WA) - The holiday blockbuster lived up to expectations, as the Xbox 360 tactical fighter game has sold over three million copies in ten weeks, earning the designation as the fastest-selling game in the 14-month history of Microsoft’s new console.

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Gears of War was strategically set for a release in early December to bring back attention to the Xbox 360 after the retail sell-outs of the more talked about Wii and PS3. The game dominated the sales charts of December, selling more copies during the month than any other title across all platforms.

Like Blockbuster titles from Microsoft’s Halo franchise and the Grand Theft Auto and Zelda franchises, Gears of War is tracking to be one of the best-selling videogames of all time and has established itself as the most successful new IP of the next-generation," said Microsoft marketing VP Jeff Bell.

Gears of War has also been lucrative in the Xbox Live market, with more than 1.5 million downloads of supplemental material already purchased, reports Research firm NPD reported that the Xbox 360 was the top-selling next-gen console during the final two months of 2006, with two million units sold. So far about 10 million of the consoles have been shipped worldwide, a target that took significantly longer for the original Xbox to meet.