With over 20,000 stores open at midnight worldwide for the Gears of War 2 release, the launch was a huge financial success: Epic reports that two million copies of Gears 2 were sold over the weekend, which definitely makes the shooter one of the most successful titles of the year.

Also, during the weekend more than 1.5 million people logged in to play the game online, racking up a total 15 million gameplay hours and helping set a new record for concurrent LIVE players. These players also collectively unlocked more than 19 million Achievements. Big numbers for a big game like Gears of War 2!

“We were so excited to launch Gears of War 2 on the same day all around the world, something virtually unheard of in the games business,” said Cliff Bleszinski, design director at Epic Games. “We wanted our fans, no matter where they live, to have a shared experience on day one, and that’s exactly what’s happened.”

All it’s left to see now is if Gears 2 will still sell as it did during the opening days and, why not, challenge GTA’s numbers. It’s a long call indeed, but Epic wouldn’t mind if it became real.