The countdown has begun for the biggest entertainment event of 2007 with the close of Bungie Studios’ massively successful Halo 3 multiplayer beta. A first for the acclaimed Halo franchise, the limited public beta was an overwhelming success, seeing more than 820,000 unique participants and more than 12 million hours of online gameplay in its short test period, equivalent to more than 1,400 years of continuous play by one person.
“The participation in the Halo 3 beta was staggering,” said Shane Kim, corporate vice president of Microsoft Game Studios. “Witnessing such a great reaction to a small portion of the game has been inspiring. It’s a testament to the fervor and anticipation that surrounds Halo 3. We’re confident that on Sept. 25 Halo 3 will drive an unprecedented wave of new gamers to the Xbox 360 platform and Xbox LIVE.”
The Halo 3 beta, an early look at parts of the multiplayer gameplay of Halo 3, debuted to Xbox 360 owners worldwide via Xbox LIVE on May 16. The more than 820,000 users who played the beta resulted in more than 350 terabytes of data downloaded from Xbox LIVE. Also telling was the players’ response to an exciting new saved-film feature, which provided them with the unprecedented ability to record their games and share them over Xbox LIVE with friends for the first time on Xbox 360. The feature, which was unveiled in the beta, saw more than 580,000 saved films created by users, representing more than 2.7 terabytes of data. Because of the tremendous participation in the beta, Bungie now has an exhaustive amount of data that will be used to improve the overall game experience.
