Gears Of War 2 Sells 2 Million In First Weekend

Global sales of Epic Games’ Gears of War 2 topped 2 million units worldwide after the game’s first weekend on sale. The game was released in 20 countries on Friday, November 7th, when more than 20,000 retailers took part in special midnight opening events. Publisher Microsoft says that more than 1.5 million people logged into the game on Xbox Live over the weekend, with 15 million gameplay hours being recorded – a new record for concurrent Live players. A collective total of more than 19 million Achivements were also unlocked. One of the most prominent Xbox 360 exclusives of the Christmas period, Gears of War 2 is expected to top NPD sales charts for the U.S. when they are released next month. The game already debuted at the top of the UK sales charts, becoming the third-fastest selling 360 game so far, after only Grand Theft Auto IV and Halo 3. "We were so excited to launch Gears of War 2 on the same day all around the world, something virtually unheard of in the games business," said Cliff Bleszinski, design director at Epic. "We wanted our fans, no matter where they live, to have a shared experience on day one, and that’s exactly what’s happened."