Microsoft’s release for the much-anticipated “Halo 5: Guardians” has proved to be the biggest launch in the long-running videogame franchise’s history, with its strong sales helped by an online launch show that has set an all-new Guinness World Records title for the Most watched videogame launch broadcast.

The six-hour “Halo 5: Live” broadcast on Monday 26 October, which kicked off at 18:00 EDT, was streamed through the Xbox channel on YouTube and concluded at midnight EDT when the game finally went on sale.

With more than 330,000 unique streams during the evening itself, plus an incredible total of 5.5 million views by the end of the first week, the broadcast has set a precedent for other games publishers and demonstrated a new way to launch games to wider audiences.

Although other video games have streamed live events before, this was the first of such magnitude.

The stream featured live footage from launch events around the globe, as well as variety of segments including a behind-the-scenes interview with the game’s creative team and a sneak-peak at the upcoming animated series that is based on Erik Nylund’s 2001 Novel “Halo: The Fall of Reach”.

Speaking ahead of the launch event Microsoft spokesman Aaron Greenberg said: “We are excited to stream the ‘Halo 5: Guardians’ launch exclusively through YouTube so fans can share in a New Year’s Eve-like countdown moment together.”

The record-breaking broadcast led first week sales of the new game to push sales figures for the entire series past the $5 billion mark and, according to Xbox, “Halo 5: Guardians” became its fastest-selling digital game in an opening week ever.

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