Xbox 360 sales reach Sony-smashing milestone
Microsoft has X-factor in popularity contest
Microsoft has revealed it passed the 55m mark for sales of the Xbox 360 console last week, putting it ahead of the PS3 in the overall global sales standing.
In the build-up to industry show E3, the company has highlighted a survey by market watcher NPD which apparently shows the Xbox 360 "change the tail" of a typical console lifespan.
Sales of the console are still on the rise and the first four months of 2011 saw figures up 29 per cent on last year.
This could in part be down to the launch of Kinect, another big seller. Last month, we heard how the company has cashed-in on more than 10m Kinect systems, along with 10m standalone games.
The Xbox 360 has been the most-purchased console in ten of the past 11 months too, but these figures only tally US sales alone, and we all know where American loyalties lie in the fight for console supremacy.
Predictably, the Japanese market tells a different story, with sales for Microsoft's console lagging considerably behind the local offering. There, figures show PS3 purchases are six times greater, while Nintendo's Wii sets the pace with more than ten times the overall sales.
NPD's latest figures show the Xbox 360 rests in second place in terms of worldwide sales figures.
It will be interesting to see how damaging the past two months have been to Sony's hardware sales, when its latest figures are tallied up. With the PSN network down, there were reports of fed-up customers swapping their PS3s for Xbox 360s.
Has Sony's security breach given Microsoft the upper hand in the war on console supremacy?
Expect more Microsoft gaming news to sprout from the company's pre-E3 conference later today. ®
COMMENTS
All in the Kinect
The Kinect makes the XBOX 360 a killer platform. So much fun to be had, they just need some more titles. I still have a PS3, though not logged in to claim my free games yet. PS move controllers are not great compared to the MS kinect. I have both, used the PS controllers a few times, the Kinect a lot more plus friends love to try the dancing.
Indeed.
My neighbor bought 2 XBox RROD replacements, blissfully unaware of the RROD extended 3yr warranty (and lets remember it's ONLY RROD, any other fault and it's only 1yr). I'm guessing he is far from alone.
There are many many console failures outside the warranty, as is there are many owners simply upgrading early crappy xboxes with slightly less crappy slim Xboxes.
This is WHY although Microsoft have sold slightly more Xboxes than Sony have with the PS3, the Xbox userbase is much smaller, because they are reselling to the same users multiple times.
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2011-04-01-analyst-figures-show-worldwide-ps3-install-base-bigger-than-360
Re: No
You're absolutely right, the XBox 360 is really crappy.
Buy a PS3 instead and give us your credit card number.
LOLZ.
tale of 2 things
yes, Kinect wil undoubtable breathe new life into the platform...but the rise in sales
is more likely to be because of their extra-cheap xbox360-4Gb box - quite a cheap box...however, should you buy one you'll soon realise how limited that 4Gb is for any online or serious gaming :-(
Wii has now gone under 90quid for a console with pack-in game (sports resort usually) - so expect sales of that to jump up again too
Depends on what you want out of your console
I've got the PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii. In my opinion, as a home entertainment system (thanks to the inclusion of blu-ray and LOVEFiLM) that facilitates gaming, the PS3 wins. As a dedicated gaming console that offers home entertainment, the 360 wins. I use the Xbox controller on both consoles as Sony's controller doesn't suit me at all.
I have an original Xbox that was playing up, outside the 12-month warranty. Microsoft collected the unit and replaced the DVD drive free of charge. I still had problems. So Microsoft collected the unit again and replaced the motherboard free of charge. It's still going strong to this day, three years on. No complaints from me.
