May 14, 2008
Xbox 360 tops 10m US sales, 12m Xbox Live members
Microsoft has just announced a couple of Xbox milestones - 10m of its Xbox 360 game consoles sold in the US now and 12m members globally of its Xbox Live online service.
The company says the 360 is the first next-generation system to pass the 10m mark in the US.
The latest figures from the NPD research firm, up to the end of March, showed the 360 leading with 9.9m units, the Nintendo Wii second with 8.8m and Sony’s PlayStation 3 in third with 4.06m units sold.
“History has shown us that the first company to reach 10m in console sales wins the generation battle. We are uniquely positioned to set a new benchmark for the industry,” said Don Mattrick, head of Microsoft’s interactive entertainment business, in a statement.
But given the 360 had a year’s head start over the Wii and only sold 262,000 units in March to the Wii’s 721,000, it seems only a matter of time before the 360 is overtaken.
Even so, Microsoft can boast that it does a better job of selling software with its consoles. It has a US “attach rate” of 7.5 game titles per console, compared to 5.3 for the Wii and 4.6 for the PS3.
That figure could increase with the new line-up of Microsoft Games Studios titles, which were previewed for the gaming press in San Francisco yesterday. Gears of War 2, Viva Pinata 2, Fable 2 and Too Human were among those demonstrated.
Microsoft is also well ahead of its rivals in online services, with the 12m figure for Xbox Live representing a doubling of membership in the past year. The company said the prospect of playing Grand Theft Auto IV online, which will include episodic content exclusive to Xbox Live, had given a recent boost to membership.
The best news for Sony is in Europe, where Kaz Hirai, head of its console division, told us earlier this month that the PS3 had overtaken the 360 with more than 5m units now sold.
But Xbox360 has a major problem - it doesn’t have a Blu-Ray disc player built in like PS3.
The PS2 sold phenominally well because it gave people a ‘free’ DVD player when they were still relatively expensive to buy in stores. I’m guessing Sony are planning on using the same strategy again.
The only way Microsoft can compete with this is to bypass disc based media and offer HD films and games via broadband.
Sadly, 50MB broadband is still a few years away and games publishers wouldn’t dare endanger its relationships with games retailers by cutting them out of the loop altogether.
So, expect to see Microsoft make lots of noises about bypassing ‘old’ disc based media - but that’s all it is. Noise.
No cash strapped consumer - myself included - is ever going to commit to a console which doesn’t have the latest disc playing technology.
Shame really - I so wanted an Xbox360.
Posted by: kenobi | May 15th, 2008 at 6:04 pm | Report this commentWell Sony told me they had been talking to Microsoft about it including a Blu-ray drive for the 360, so don’t rule it out.
Posted by: Chris Nuttall | May 15th, 2008 at 10:13 pm | Report this commentOld news. Reports said they had this meeting a while back. The added cost of an integrated or plug-in BluRay drive would likely make the Xbox offer more expensive than the PS3.
Unless Microsoft heavily subsidises that add on, it’s the odd one out of the primary consoles.
There are two audiences up for grabs: adult / real gamers (PS3) and family friendly/children (Wii). Microsoft needs to act now or leave the room before it risks losing money.
Posted by: kenobi | May 16th, 2008 at 2:38 pm | Report this comment