Halo 4 "biggest U.S. entertainment launch of the year," says Microsoft

Halo 4 brought in $220 million in global sales on its first day, beating out Halo: Reach'sprevious series-best launch by $20 million. Microsoft told Reuters the initial entry in the Reclaimer trilogy tallied more than $300 million in its first week.

"We're thrilled that Halo 4 has emerged as the biggest U.S. entertainment launch of the year," said Phil Spencer, corporate vice president of Microsoft Studios.

Of course, we'll see if it lasts with Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 releasing at midnight--but at least the Chief got a week in the spotlight. The Halo franchise has brought in more than $3.38 billion in revenue since Combat Evolved started selling Xbox consoles in 2001.

We also liked Halo 4 quite a bit, finding it made great strides in both single and multiplayer in our review.