There was a little first-person shooter title launched this week … you may have heard of it. The question is just how much Microsoft will rake in on Master Chief’s third adventure on the Xbox 360. According to a couple of financial analysts, Halo 3 will give Microsoft’s gaming division the financial shot in the arm it has needed for quite a long time.

Sarah Friar and Frederick Grieb of Goldman Sachs are reporting that Microsoft will ship 4.2 million units of Halo 3 before the end of September. That means of all the Xbox 360 owners around the world, over one-third could pick up a copy. Surprisingly, the Halo 3 launch trails the Halo 2 launch, with Halo 3 selling 1.5 million copies during its first day versus the official launch of Halo 2, which sold almost 2.4 million copies. According to the Goldman Sachs analysts, however, this was simply due to more Xbox units being available for Halo 2 compared to the number of Xbox 360s out there for Halo 3.

This week’s sales of Halo 3 will bring a cash injection of US$170 million to Microsoft’s entertainment and devices division. For the first time since the Xbox was launched, this would push the lagging game division into profitable territory for the quarter … so you know there are those wandering the halls of Microsoft today whistling “Hail to the Chief” … Master Chief, that is.

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Analysts, Games, Gaming, Microsoft, Microsoft Games, Halo 3