Halo Series: Now 50 million copies sold, 5 billion Xbox Live hours played

Microsoft has announced with the advent of Halo 4 the company has now sold more than 50 million copies of the game in total, and that the game has seen more than 5 billion hours being played on Xbox Live.

The game racked up these numbers over the last 11 years and 8 editions, with the first release of  Halo: Combat Evolved in 2001.

The latest edition, Halo 4, has generated $220 million revenue at launch on launch day, and $300 million in its first week. Microsoft’s new 343 Industries label has taken over the series, and is currently working on  Halo 5 and Halo 6.

To celebrate the achievement  Microsoft today announced a new free-to-enter Halo 4 tournament. The "Halo 4 Infinity Challenge" begins December 17 and tasks players will competing on global leaderboards across the game’s War Gamess and Spartan Ops modes for a chance to win prizes.

The tournament is powered by Virgin Gaming has as its grand prize a UNSC-themed V8-powered 2013 Ford F-150 SVT Raptor truck designed by 343 Industries. The winner of the Spartan Ops tournament will also be awarded an appearance in a future Halo game.

Players can register for the Halo 4 Infinity Challenge through the promotion’s website and read more about the Halo 4 Infinity Challenge at the  tournament’s website.

Via Gamespot and Neowin.net