: Awesome to finally get some numbers from somebody, and honestly, I think
: there is still the opportunity to see Halo 5 experience continued growth
: with a 'repackaging' of what has been made available so far with DLC
: updates and 'something new'.

: Add some kind of side story campaign mode or expansion (or even a huge
: multiplayer map pack), package it together with the base game and profit.

: Anyway, for a console exclusive in this day and age, I don't see how you
: could place Halo 5 anywhere but in the success category.

: - MacGyver10

Relative to Halo 2, 3, Reach, and 4, Halo 5 was a disappointment. However, relative to the average first-party exclusive, Halo 5 still did very well. 5 million is a roughly 25% attach rate, which is pretty damn good. The only first-party console titles this generation to do as well or better than Halo 5 were some of the bigger Wii U games (e.g., Mario Kart 8, Smash 4, New SMB U). Gran Turismo 6 and Uncharted 4 will probably get to that level as well. Exclusives typically just don't tend to get sales of 5+ million copies worldwide simply due to the fact that they're limited to a single platform.

The Halo series had always overperformed as an exclusive, starting with Halo 2 at least. That game shattered records for first-day sales, so much so that it made the news. Games just didn't sell like that at launch, and most of the bigger games got to their level by having really strong legs or by being bundled with a system. 3+ million first month in the U.S. was just unheard of at the time for any game, much less an exclusive, and it wasn't until a couple of years into last generation that we started seeing more and more games with big multi-million-copy launches.

Halo may have lost a lot of its audience with Halo 5, but most of that is almost certainly due to the MCC's multiplayer being broken for months after launch; the loss of split-screen/offline local play has probably hurt Halo 5 as well to a smaller extent. But while I have my fair share of complaints about the game, one thing it is not is broken. It's polished and has been well-supported, and generally doesn't suffer from any of the issues the MCC did. All they need is to keep that level of polish and re-add split-screen support for Halo 6 and we should see a rebound in sales.