Xbox
360 Console Sales Hit 30 Million
Microsoft announced today (May 28) that sales of Xbox 360 consoles have
passed the 30 million mark globally, with its Xbox LIVE community
swelling to more than 20 million active members. The gaming system has
achieved 28% growth in 2009.
As the
global video games market has been
growing,
in January Microsoft had revealed that
life-to-date unit sales of Xbox 360 systems climbed to 28
million consoles worldwide. With price starting at $199, Xbox 360 offers
games, TV shows, and movies to consumers. Other companies are also
playing aggressively in the market.
In
December last year, Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) released
PlayStation Home Beta service for PlayStation 3.
PlayStation Home is a 3D social gaming community available on PS3 that
allows users to interact, communicate, and share gaming experiences.
PlayStation Home delivers visual graphics and rich gaming social
experiences on the PS3 platform.
In
February, SCE said that the cumulative number of registered accounts on
PlayStation Network worldwide had exceeded 20 million. It was launched
in Nov. 2006.
Microsoft says the success of the platform can be measured across the
business, with Xbox LIVE expanding as an entertainment network. It
allows consumers to connect with friends, download and enjoy movies and
TV shows, and extend the life of their favorite games.
Over
the course of this console generation, the company informs, U.S.
consumers alone have spent $14.5 billion across all categories on Xbox
360 at retail. To date, consumers have downloaded nearly 1 billion
pieces of gaming and entertainment content from Xbox LIVE Marketplace,
including a broad array of high- and standard-definition movies and TV
shows.
In
addition, Microsoft says, Xbox 360 is being used as a leading platform
for games, generating $5.9 billion in sales to date at U.S. retail for
third-party publishers.
Along
with games, the addition of entertainment content on the box is among
the factors for its increasing market acceptance. For example,
online movie rental service, Netflix,
said that Netflix members can have thousands of movies and TV episodes
instantly streamed to the TV via the Xbox 360 with the
New Xbox Experience.
Microsoft believes that activity on Xbox LIVE, an online gaming and
entertainment service, surged following the launch of the New Xbox
Experience in November 2008.
The
popularity of console-based games can be assessed from the fact that
Halo 3, a video game developed for
Microsoft Xbox 360 console, grossed $300 million
worldwide in its first week of launch. Even a Hollywood blockbuster will
be thrilled to generate this kind of revenue.
According to DFC Intelligence, a global digital games market tracker,
combined cumulative
worldwide sales for Microsoft Xbox 360, Sony
PlayStation 3, and Nintendo Wii systems are expected to be
180-210 million units by 2012.
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