RSSMicrosoft: 6 Million Xbox 360s Sold
By Nate Mook | Published October 26, 2006, 7:13 PM
UPDATE October 27, 2006, 5:35 pm ET: Late this afternoon, a spokesperson for Microsoft confirmed to BetaNews that CFO Chris Liddell's prediction of four million more Xbox 360 consoles sold between now and the end of the year, is an accurate one. The spokesperson did clarify the meaning of "sell:" Liddell was referring to sales to retailers and distributors (wholesalers and resellers), not to end customers. If NPD were to make an assessment of Xbox 360 end customer sales next January, we were told, that number could be different.
Liddell did not mean "ship" instead of "sell," we were assured. Conceivably, the company could ship fewer units than it sells, though with inventory windows narrow, the book-to-bill ratio in this case is probably fairly even.
With only 65 days remaining in the calendar year, for Microsoft to reach this goal, it would have to sell nearly 43 Xbox 360 consoles worldwide every minute, or at least three units every four seconds.
As part of its quarterly earnings report issued late Thursday, Microsoft disclosed that it has sold a total of 6 million Xbox 360 video game consoles since the product debuted nearly one year ago. Losses in the Xbox division were also lowered to $96 million from $173 million a year ago.
As of July, Microsoft had sold a total of 5 million Xbox 360s. Still, the Redmond company expects to sell a total of 10 million consoles by the end of this year. This figure has remained firm, even with increased competition this holiday season from Sony's PlayStation 3 and the Nintendo Wii, both due out next month.
pc>console
though consoles do have their advantages.
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|They have their advantages........for about a month... then PC's again, have the advantage.
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|It all comes down to preference. For me - consoles have a huge advantage.
1. 92" Screen
2. Comfy Couch
3. Play in the family room
For PC gaming, I'd be sitting up in my office in a chair, with a keyboard and mouse. While it is fun, I'll take whatever drawbacks the console has over any PC advantages for the comfort factor.
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|I don't think that applies anymore...I can get that with my PC.
However, consoles own in the "we don't have to install anything" department. :)
The only thing PCs have that consoles don't currently, is higher res. And that isn't all that impressive. BTW, I prefer PC gaming...I'm just fair :D
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|1. 50" PC via VGA (i detest projectors)
2. Comfy Bed (wireless mouse and keyboard)
3. Play in my room.
I definitly see an advantage to PC gaming if you have the goods. Plus I've been playing in Hi-Res (HD) for well ovr a year.
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|You don't mention the consoles VASTLY better user experience.
Console: "Stick CD/DVD/BluRay into slot/tray", "Play Game".
PC: "Stick CD/DVD/BluRay into slot/tray", Sorry, you need to upgrade DirectX 9.0c, Download and Install DirectX 9.0c, Insert disk, sorry, you need at leadt 3GB of free space on C:, clean up old games, try again. Install game (wait 1 hour), play game, unplayable, graphics glitches, download latest Nvidia/Ati drivers, try again. Play next gamem games no longer playes, graphics drivers too new, install older drivers.. so the cycle continues.....
I LOVE console games, I LOATHE PC games. Except of course the new Sam And Max game... :-)
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|I am for once going to haft to agree with Mark. Also with PCs you can't invite friends over and all gather around and play a little split screen.
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|"I am for once going to haft to agree with Mark"
Ahh, you'll be buying a PS3 next... :-)
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|"Ahh, you'll be buying a PS3 next... :-)"
I am not going to denie that. I may very well end up with a PS3 before it is all said and done. I just have my doubts that it will dominate. Also I wont be buying it anytime soon. But I am pretty avid gamer and if the PS3 shows me something I like sometime in the future I am sure I will be foaming at the mouth lol. I must say though after some research I am beginning to become weary of the Wii. It doesn't really have anything too offer besides a new controller. I am beginning to wonder if the thrill from this "new style" controller will last or if it will be a blast for a few hours and then just "blah". Don't get me wrong it will sell just fine because it's cheap, but I don't think it will be taking a win. But who knows everyone "including myself" may grab those controllers and fall in love lol.
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|i really don't mind the whole pc thing, remember if theres a bug in a console game you're pretty much stuck with it.
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|Yeah, PC Gaming is a nightmare if your PC is a mess. Stick with consoles if you don’t know what you’re doing in the PC department. Stick with consoles if you’re on a budget and can’t afford to upgrade your PC. Stick with consoles if you enjoy using the same technology for 4 – 6 years before the next console release. Not that I won’t be buying a PS3 in November ;)… 6 Million Xbox’s in one year? Nothing to be proud of.
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|Not these days. If there is a bug in a console game, they patch it just like they do on the pc.
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|No, I invite frends over and LAN.
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|4 million in 2 months... Sure!!! Just tell everyone that you can flash the DVD drive with the appropriate firmware and you too can play copies of all the game titles that are out there... People will line up like last year to buy a 360 console...
Wanna sell more than 4 million... Allow homebrew software to be ran on the 360 and they will outsell the PS3 for sure.. The XBOX didn't take off in sales until modchips came out for it... The same will be for the 360...
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|Google XNA, smart guy...
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|Weren't they supposed to sell 10 million by years end? I realize the year isn't over, but 4 million in the next 2 months?
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|One word:
Christmas.
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|What's an Xbox 360?
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|Sony has got to do something about the PS3's price. $500 & $600 is over doing it for a game console. That's an entire desktop pc that you can play games on. And if M$ decides to drop their price to compete with the PS3, Sony could be screwed big time.
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|Actually $500 - $600 is quite cheap. I don't know what type of games you could play on a $500 - $600 PC... a typing tutor might work though. A good PC Video card alone costs over $500.... The PS3 also includes a Blu Ray drive. They should raise the price... make it easier for me to buy as they will sell too quickly.
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|And the same story without the Microsoft spin.
http://www.windowsitpro....icleID/94019/94019.html
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|LOL :)
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|Hardly the same story. Not to mention Lazard's predicted numbers are completely wrong as stated by both NPDFunWorld & Microsoft's own announcement yesterday. A 1.5M unit gap is a pretty awful miscalculation given both Thurott & Lazard chose to go against conventional wisdom... in the wrong direction.
And as with any holiday season, 30-50% of all fiscal year sales are completed during this quarter making a 10M unit metric very obtainable.
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|At this rate Microsoft hasn't even sold 40% of the pace of the PS2.
Don't count Sony or Nintendo out.
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|And how long has the PS2 been out exactly??
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|Quite a long time, what is your point again? I'm talking about rates of sales, not total sales. I'm well aware the XBOX 360 is a newer platform.
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|And how much cheaper is the ps2 compared to the xbox 360? BIGGG difference in price.
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|"Market research firm GfK Australia said sales of the Xbox 360 had passed 100,000 units within seven months of its release in Australia - 22,000 more than Sony's PlayStation 2 over the same period."
from http://australianit.news...321%5E%5Enbv%5E,00.html
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|PS2 has been out for 3 times as long if not longer. If you look at the figures that means when Xbox 360 is out as long as Ps2 it should out do PS2 by 20% over all console sales.
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|Whatever - a totally different market segment.
And yet MS has still sold 6M more units than Sony's PS3.
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|Great, when Australia ceases to be a podunk island in the south, let me know. Every other MAJOR market the PS2 completely eclipsed the XB360, and ramped up in sales. The XB 360 is actually wavering and not growing as much as when it started.
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|Ok, I misunderstood what you were saying.
Regardless - that isn't really any kind of indicator. Times are different. When PS2 came out, what else was on the horizon? I don't really think people were not buying a PS2 to hold on for an Xbox.
Today, 360 was the first released. How many gamers (who can only afford one console) decided to wait until all 3 were available to make a decision?
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|"Great, when Australia ceases to be a podunk island in the south, let me know."
congratulations you win the ultimate a$$hat award, way to go!
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|All this indicates is that Australia has the world's most astute gamers...
But not much else. :S
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|I don't know with that kind of lead and all the problems surrounding sony microsoft caught the break they were looking for. People who got tired of waiting for the ps3 may have jumped to the xbox 360 just for kicks and will sell and dish out when they can finally get a ps3. with shipments low and demand through the roof it may be one heck of a problem. but in the end I have no doubt sony will straighten out the issues. Like microsof they can take a huge hit just to get a few more consoles out the door and stay competitive.
This is exactly what every market needs good hard core competition. Do you think we would be seeing anything like this had microsoft not pushed sony or had a company as dug in as sony to make ms try so hard. Now if we can just get some good competition for windows we will all be doing good.
The really sad thing is that most company's couldn't survive on a loss of 100 million dollars.
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|This reinforces my opinion that MS actually provides competition.
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|usually, in the console market, all system makers lose money or make very little from it.
They take a loss on the hardware to make gains on the royalties from the software. This is of course, just a general rule. 3do hardware made money.
I think sony's only mistake this gen is the inclusion of blue laser tech, as it is only being made by a handful of companies. These same diodes are being used in 2 competing formats and they don't just have one single purpose, which makes their supply all the more scarce and for the time being, unreliable. At least for this holiday season
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|At least in the console arena. :)
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|In more and more arenas. Just, usually, the companies they are competing against don't stand a chance.
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|Hrm, After the upcoming laptop battery lawsuit, I dont think Sony can ever handle a 100 million loss. Considering they will already be losing a couple billion.
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|I don't see why anyone would be so gung-ho about getting one of the first ones. Sony is notorious for having faulty first generation systems. Do any of you know anyone who still has an operational first generation Playstation 1 or Playstation 2? As always, Sony will rush to release, use consumers as test subjects, and then start working out some of the faults. If I were buying a PS3 I would wait a till a couple generations of the device had been released first.
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