Mass Effect 2 Sells 500,000 Units on Day One in the Americas - News

by VGChartz Staff , posted on 29 January 2010 / 27,751 Views

Brett Walton
29th Jan 2009

After a strong critical reception and intense advertising campaign, Mass Effect 2 had an excellent opening day in the Americas. According to VGChartz preliminary estimates, around 500,000 copies of the game were sold on day one on Xbox 360 (PC sales were not tracked). Extrapolating for the week, total sales should surpass 700,000 in the Americas by Saturday. With a strong launch also expected in Europe (the UK especially), total sales by Saturday could be close to one million units worldwide on Xbox 360 - about it line with the launch of Fable II back in October 2008. The original Mass Effect sold 2.1 million copies on Xbox 360 in total and 400,000 in week one - Mass Effect 2 will comfortably outperform that.

The other big release this week is MAG: Massive Action Game. Day one sales stand at around 140,000 units and the title should be good for a week one of just over 200,000 units.

Stay tuned for the latest updates and finalised week one sales once they come in.

78 Comments

Jlmadyson (on 02 February 2010)

I'll just say it right it now it seems a bit low to be honest and especially so if they did 2 million in the first 4 days.

huaxiong90 (on 01 February 2010)

@mundus6: Also to clarify, I'm not counting PC sales because Apollian is talking strictly about the Xbox 360.

huaxiong90 (on 01 February 2010)

@Kain: Whatever fits your gaming tastes. I like the Wii. Always been a Nintendo fan, and always will be.

huaxiong90 (on 01 February 2010)

@mundus6: That's including PC sales. Take them out, and Xbox 360 sales FW in NA are just about the same as MGS4's if not slightly less. And Mass Effect doesn't have the brand recognition MGS4 has in Europe, Asia, and Japan.

Kainxxx2000 (on 31 January 2010)

hello i just got a wii and it ok its my wife. I play it a bit but to me its not the nexts gen console wii lacks good games. Its selling well because nintendo hit a very good market! Fat people that want to lose weight and casual games thats it. I just cant count the wii is a gaming console. I own all gaming systems and have a good PC. If the wii was all we had I would stop gaming. I have a PS3 better exclusive this year. I just got a new Xbox 360 for MassEffect 2 this makes 3 now and got the wii for my wife B-Day and family stuff. Well I guess you can say i like games and some what HardCore I just dont see myself giving the respect that the Wii needs its last Gen. OH wait the controls are nexts gen ok that will only go so far. All the system have there ups and downs but the wii needs better games not shovelware.

mundus6 (on 31 January 2010)

@ huaxiong as far as USA goes ME2 has better week 1 sales than MGS4. Also you have to remember that PC sales never gets tracked. I would say that ME2 probably gonna see bigger numbers than MGS4 for a couple of weeks, but maybe wont have better legs.

huaxiong90 (on 31 January 2010)

@Apollian: 500,000 and you expect that? Have you seen MGS4's FW? I've quoted you. The Wii is killing the Xbox 360 and PS3, also. ;-) Don't care what you or anyone else say, it's a next gen console.

Apollian (on 31 January 2010)

it will pass Metal Gear Solid 4 in a few weeks..it doesn't matter what they say about the Xbox 360, its where the games sell time and time again.. its successful because it has too many quality titles that sells millions.
the grand daddy of the Next Gen consoles keeps on banging them out.

mundus6 (on 30 January 2010)

@Gearbox

It has already sold 2 million, probably total sales though and not just 360 but still thats quite high and its usually only games like CoD or Halo that break these numbers so fast. Here is a link http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/106/1065086p1.html

Onibaka (on 30 January 2010)

@chanskie
I think the same. The facial animation is average, "ok".
But the shader in the armor is really good.

IMO, the graphics will not pass the U2.

Uncharted is not only shaders and effects. What U2 has, and better than other any game is the Animation of the character. This improve the immersion a lot. Nathan is the vg character with more different animations.

CaptDS9E (on 30 January 2010)

"I'm not a big RPG fan, but those are amazing figures!!!!"

ME2 is very RPG light now, but frankly that's why its even better then the first.

down-down-down-down- (on 30 January 2010)

how i expectet,games are exclusiv for the x360 are sell very good in america

huaxiong90 (on 30 January 2010)

@Alkamist: Counting PC sales, that is.

chanskie (on 30 January 2010)

Just out of curiosity, don't you think the facial expression of each characters from ME2......looks numb? and there are always the same expression.....nothing else........

Yuyyder (on 30 January 2010)

I thought the 23rd January Americas Preorders Chart had MAG at 245,491 ? So shouldnt first week be at least over that number ?

Or did 45k+ people forgot that they preordered MAG ?

Kenoid (on 30 January 2010)

Nice

nathantay (on 30 January 2010)

Great sales! Should boost the 360 a little bit.

Gearbox (on 30 January 2010)

@AlkamistStar - its not going to do 2 million week 1

AlkamistStar (on 30 January 2010)

Great achievement, and 2 million week one. What a beast.

gamesadict (on 30 January 2010)

Woah, great for ME2! I want to get it for PC, but what's the point if I haven't even played the first one lol. I need to clean my HDD, it's not even installed yet :/.

candy2500 (on 29 January 2010)

boy they jacked one out of the park with this one. i feel like i was out in the sand and stumbled over some biblical tablet.

jedi5diah (on 29 January 2010)

hurray, sci-fi freaks!

FaRmLaNd (on 29 January 2010)

Gonna buy this after I finish my current Oblivion playthrough.

Sanzee (on 29 January 2010)

An amazing game deserves amazing sales. Mass Effect 2 was my "defining game" this generation. Every generation has alot of great games. Many of them are my favorite. But only one game shakes the very foundation of my gaming fandom. That game was Mass Effect 2.

Lyrikalstylez (on 29 January 2010)

Awesome Sales for Such an Awesome Game

moneyman289 (on 29 January 2010)

I'm not a big RPG fan, but those are amazing figures!!!!

aken909 (on 29 January 2010)

It's a pretty good game. I bought the PC version on Steam.

Blacksaber (on 29 January 2010)

@Java two things it's unknown if their talking shipping or real sales and this is for 360 only...

getrdone (on 29 January 2010)

BHR-3
A lot of people pre-order MAG for the beta but didnt buy the game.

BHR-3 (on 29 January 2010)

MAG had 245k preorders

http://news.vgchartz.com/news.php?id=6744

but manages to sell 200k for the entire first week? did the other 50k preorders and potential 100-200k buyers forget the game was released? or did something else happen?

thought it would sell near 400k going by this sites preorders

aleusianacht88 (on 29 January 2010)

Slimebeast, you only say that because you're a 360 fanboy. Personally I'm not interested in either of these games and wouldnt be even if it were on the PS3, I'm sure it's great for a WRPG but I'm not a big fan of WRPGs.

Good job though, a good game is a good game regardless of the platform, it's nice to know the PC version is superior too.

SaviorX (on 29 January 2010)

MAG must've been seriously overtracked in the preorders charts then.

piggychan (on 29 January 2010)

omg.... outta this world! :P Loving the game so far and only just 5 hours in

1337 Gamer (on 29 January 2010)

Good job ME2. This game is AWESOME!!! Absolutly fantastic im on my second playthrough right now. I recommend it to EVERYONE!

Slimebeast (on 29 January 2010)

Good sales for ME2. I believe MAG is heavily overtracked. Time will tell.

epicberserk (on 29 January 2010)

Congrats mass effect 2and bioware my favorite rpg developer :)

tensen1212 (on 29 January 2010)

werent the preorders for mag around 270k?

huaxiong90 (on 29 January 2010)

On topic, well deserved for Mass Effect 2.

huaxiong90 (on 29 January 2010)

@hudson: Ouch for MAG? This is good for a new IP.

Serious_frusting (on 29 January 2010)

I must have bad taste in games because Mass Effect 1 in my opinion was crap. I am sure number 2 will be to. Great sales though many people must love that kind of game. tht being saidi also hate

Bioshock
Fallout 3
Oblivion

So you know

otherZinc (on 29 January 2010)

I'm at 20hours & 170 Achievement points in Mass Effect 2 & the game is absolutely amazing! The game is KILLER FANTASTIC!

hunter_alien (on 29 January 2010)

MAG di ok ;-) ME2... well it got great reviews, so Im glad that its doing these kind of numbers :-)

Grey21 (on 29 January 2010)

I'm happy to see that Mass Effect 2 is selling well, I feared that shooter fans would turn their back to the serie after the first installment offered little more then average combat for them. The RPG element were fantastic, especially the conversations were revolutionary but it only sold about 2 milion copies and I feared most of those buyers wouldnt get the sequel. But they did and now I can look forward to the final chapter of the trilogy having a grand budget aswell.

aragod (on 29 January 2010)

Getting both of these gems.

Mad55 (on 29 January 2010)

never was a fan of the game but good sales. They are doing good for themselves.

XanderZane (on 29 January 2010)

Great start for ME2. It should do over 2 million before the end of the year. The game is awesone and a must have. We already have a leader for GoTY and it's only Jan. MAG had a decent start consider this is a new IP. They didn't meet their pre-orders, which was close to 250K. People are forgetting that many people played the beta. Looks like a few didn't care for it. It'll still do a million+ overall as we haven't gotten the Other or Japan numbers yet. There are only U.S. numbers.

fighter (on 29 January 2010)

Xbox 360 really is RPG paradise !!!

Mr. sickVisionz (on 29 January 2010)

Good for ME2. Bio-ware deserves a super blockbuster hit. They've been cranking out 5 star "Game of the Year" quality titles for a while now.

justinian (on 29 January 2010)

Great for ME2 and MAG - being a new game.

Are those ME2 sales combined PC and x360?

When MW2 sales figures were announced total sales were given before it was split up between consoles and PC.

I can guess a far bigger chunk would be x360 but I am just wondering if this is the case here as well.

Munkeh111 (on 29 January 2010)

Are those MAG figures just US?

Anyway, great start for Mass Effect 2

hudsoniscool (on 29 January 2010)

i was expecting more day 1 sales then its pre-orders. ouch for mag. good for ME2 though

Ping_ii (on 29 January 2010)

Cancelled their pre orders base on 10 reviews? nice.

Hyruken (on 29 January 2010)

Good sales for a really good game (thus far as not completed it).
I guess a lot of people decided to cance their pre-orders for MAG then after seeing the reviews?

GianCarmen (on 29 January 2010)

Any numbers for No More Heroes and tatsunoko vs capcom.

donsterydo2 (on 29 January 2010)

The same fate that met MAG will probably meet BC2 on PS3, it also had beta for preorders.

(correct me if I'm wrong)

JaggedSac (on 29 January 2010)

Excellent sales for an excellent game.

ethomaz (on 29 January 2010)

Nice day one for MWE2.

But surprise me the day one of MAG... above my expectations.

leo-j (on 29 January 2010)

these sales are amazing, definately deserves it, especially after getting all those high reviews.

Will I get it? Maybe, but FF XIII is only a couple of months away.. and I have very little money.

MAG did amazingly better tahn I expected, 200K in the americas alone week 1 is impressive for a new ip, with ok reviews..

AugustusBot (on 29 January 2010)

I couldn't bring myself to buy this game, not with White Knight next week and FFXIII next month... Not when I consider that most people (for some odd reason) played through ME1 multiple times w/ multiple classes, and I was done after one.

So I rented it. Blockbuster ... $8.99 for 5 days, or $21.99 for a one month 'netflix' ish pass to return / rerent as much as i want, movies or games. I went w/ the 21.99 one month rental. I'll finish it by the time White Knight is out on Wednesday, and then I'll have three weeks of free movie rentals.

I agree.
I'm a genius.

donsterydo2 (on 29 January 2010)

500k on X360 alone or combined PC/X360 ?

heruamon (on 29 January 2010)

Mass Effect has a massive effect of making me pull allnighters!

Barozi (on 29 January 2010)

I knew MAG wouldn't sell THAT well as stated by the Preorder Charts.

numonex (on 29 January 2010)

Good sales for day one. WW should break 1 million sales for first week for ME2. Hopefully it boosted X360 console sales for the week.

sully1311 (on 29 January 2010)

@jereel hunter: it wont sell well in europe

Draven26 (on 29 January 2010)

@rccsetzer A lot of people who preordered MAG probably had no intent on purchase. I preordered mainly for the beta code and after playing the beta decided I had little interest in the game.