Gears of War 2 sells 2.1 million copies on launch date

VGChartz.com apparently had early access to retail sales numbers for Gears of War 2, which, according to the site, sold 2.1 million units on its first day of availability (1.4 million in the U.S. alone). We can criticize Microsoft’s everything-to-everyone game console strategy as long as we want, but we do have to credit the company with an impressive product strategy that delivers key content at the right time.

Last year, it was Halo 3 that sold 3.8 million units on day one and drove $300 million in retail sales within one week – and single-handedly pushed Microsoft entertainment business group from the deep red into the black. Gears of War can’t quite match Halo 3, but has become a $100 million business on day 1 as well and should be capable of driving Xbox 360 sales.