Xbox 360 hits nineteen million units worldwide

zoom

Microsoft says it is the first manufacturer to sell over ten million next generation consoles in the US. Sales of the Xbox 360 passed the ten million mark the company announced this week, claiming that the milestone signaled success in the fight for market share against Sony's Playstation 3 and the Nintendo Wii.

Don Mattrick, senior vice president of the Interactive Entertainment Business, Entertainment and Devices Division at Microsoft said: "History has shown us that the first company to reach ten million in console sales wins the generation battle. We are uniquely positioned to set a new benchmark for the industry."

The Xbox 360 is now the best selling console in the US, compared to 4.1 million PS3 units sold and 8.8 million Wii, although globally Nintendo has the lead, claiming 24.4 million units sold against 19 million Xbox 360s and 12.8 million PS3s.

Microsoft is also claiming the largest online console community, with twelve million subscriptions to its Xbox Live service. IDC research manager Billy Pidgeon said that the growth potential for online gaming makes this a very significant achievement.

"Reaching an installed base of ten million consoles in the U.S. is a significant achievement and an essential milestone on the road to market leadership. Perhaps more important is the Xbox 360 worldwide online base - twelve million Xbox LIVE gamers is the largest community in the connected console games sector, which represents the greatest growth opportunity in the console market and where Microsoft has been the leader for two generations," he said.

While Sony says it is on target to add another ten million PS3 units shipped by March next year, another indicator of the current strength of the Xbox 360 is its dominance in sales of best seller GTA IV, where Xbox 360 sales account for 62% of sales against 38% for the PS3.

Print | Email | Discuss this article

| Share |

READERS' COMMENTS

What about regional figures?
Posted by Anon, Dubai, UAE on Tuesday 20 May 2008 at 10:46 UAE time


Will Microsoft and Sony share their figures for the Middle East region?

Wii and PS3 numbers are reversed
Posted by Dan Rosart, Mountain View, USA on Saturday 17 May 2008 at 05:16 UAE time

The Wii has sold 8.8M in the USA (as of MS's announcement of passing 10M, although with the 700K of the last round of NPD numbers they're up to 9.5M), with the PS3 at 4.1M.

Editors Reply: Thanks for spotting that mistake, the numbers have been changed accordingly

Click here to post a comment

Add your Comment All posts are sent to the administrator for review and are published only after approval. ArabianBusiness.com reserves the right to remove any comment at any time for any reason. Please keep your responses appropriate and on topic. Arabian Business would like to point out that only comments relevant to the story will be published. Any containing personal insults or inappropriate language will not be approved.
Name *
Remember me on this computer
Email *	(Your email address will not be published)
City
Country
Subject *
Comment *
Notify me of further comments
Enter the words above *
Please click post only once - your comment will not be published immediately.

MORE FROM ARABIANBUSINESS.COM