The milestone was hit on February 28 at 6:36 PM PST. Halo 2 has still yet to hit that point, with 768 million online matches played as of the official announcement.

In all, Halo 3 players have spent a staggering 64,109 years in the game's matchmaking system, and that figure doesn't include time spent in custom or offline matches.

"We're in awe of the success Halo 3 has been met with, but we're not done yet," reads the studio's site. "Stick around and stay tuned, there's definitely more to come."

A collection of new Halo 3 maps, the Mythic Pack, is now available to those that buy the Limited Edition of Halo Wars, with a public release expected soon. In addition, the fall release of Halo 3: ODST, a stand-alone prequel following the exploits of drop soldiers, will pack all of the existing Halo 3 multiplayer maps along with three new arenas.