Gaming fans have sacrificed sleep so they could get their hands on one of the most anticipated titles of all time.
Queues formed outside stores as consumers waited for a minute past midnight to get a copy of Destiny.
With a budget of $US500 million ($A540.98 million), the game is the most expensive ever made.
It was developed by studio Bungie, maker of the Halo franchise, and published by Activision, which is behind the Call Of Duty series.
Destiny is set 700 years in the future, with Earth and humanity in the midst of a war with a mysterious entity called The Darkness and its various alien allies.
It was released around the world on Tuesday at 12.01am local time in each country where it is available.
Pictures posted by retailer GAME showed long queues outside branches around the country, which opened late especially for the launch.
Gamers around the world reported their first experiences of it on Twitter. One user wrote: "Am I gonna be tired at work tomorrow? Yes. Was it worth it? YES!"
While some couldn't wait to get their hands on the game, others were watching the clock as they waited to get home from work to play it for the first time.
One tweeted: "Hurry up postman, don't keep me waiting for #Destiny all day!"
Another said: "I hope my copy of #Destiny has arrived when I get home from work tonight!"
Gaming experts wrote "in progress" reviews as they made their way through the first stages.
Kevin VanOrd wrote on the GameSpot website that the title "has the look and feel of a big-budget shooter" and "the structure of a lean, loot-driven role-playing game".
Rik Henderson cautioned on technology site Pocket-lint against reading anything into full reviews at this stage.
He said: "From what we've played so far - including the Beta - we love it. But to say so now would be doing you, Activision and Bungie a great disservice.
"We will publish our review when we are ready, not before."
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