More than half a billion dollars worth of Destiny shipped by day one

While Activision has yet to release solid Destiny sales numbers, the company did announce today that it shipped more than $500 million worth of Destiny to retail stores and first parties worldwide by Sept. 9.

The publisher says that makes the game the biggest new franchise launch in history. We've reached out to the company for actual sales numbers and will update this story when they reply.

While the number of games shipped to a retailer aren't an accurate reflection of sales, it does give a glimpse of the expectation both retailers and publishers have for audience demand.

"Based on extraordinary audience demand, retail and first party orders worldwide have exceeded $500 million for Destiny," said Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision Blizzard. "This industry milestone marks another blockbuster success for our company and demonstrates our unique ability to create some of the most successful entertainment franchises in the world. The success of Destiny, along with the recent introduction of Blizzard Entertainment's Hearthstone, is further validation of our unique capabilities to create great entertainment franchises from the ground up."

Check out our live play-through of the game here and expect a review shortly.