Xbox 360 continues to dominate U.S. sales charts again in August

By Tom Warren, on 9th Sep 11 11:15 am with 22 Comments

Xbox 360 'Slim'

Microsoft’s Xbox 360 topped the U.S. sales charts again in August.

Market research company NPD released its latest sales figures on Thursday. Despite a temporary slip in December (due to shortages), Microsoft’s Xbox 360 console has dominated the charts for 14 out of 15 months. The Xbox 360 outsold both the Wii and Sony PlayStation 3 in August with 308,000 units. “With a massive portfolio of new blockbuster and Kinect titles coming this holiday season as well as new partnerships with Disney and Ultimate Fighting Championship, Xbox 360 is well-positioned for continued success,” said Microsoft’s in a blog post on Thursday.

Microsoft’s August sales mean the company held 43% share of the overall current-generation console market. Microsoft’s Xbox 360 console has held more than 40% of the current-generation market share for six months now. Microsoft’s Xbox momentum has been fuelled by the popular launch of its Kinect controller-less console accessory for the Xbox 360 across the world in November. The Kinect sensor is a horizontal bar that sits at the base of your TV. The device has an RGB camera, depth sensor and multi-array microphone which runs proprietary software. Kinect allows for full-body 3D motion capture, facial recognition, and voice recognition. Owners will be able to interact with games titles using just their body. Pausing TV and fast forwarding movies can be achieved using a mix of hand movements and voice control.

Microsoft’s Xbox 360 gaming console dominated U.S. charts in 2010. Microsoft revealed at CES in January that the company has sold over 50 million Xbox 360 consoles worldwide since launch. Microsoft also has 30 million active Xbox LIVE members and has sold 10 million Kinect sensors in just 60 days on the market.

  • Holding 43 percent share of the overall current-generation console market, Xbox 360 sold 308,000 units in August, maintaining the number-one console spot in the U.S. for 2011. This marks the sixth month Xbox 360 has had more than 40 percent of the current-generation console market share.
  • Total retail spend on the Xbox 360 platform in August (hardware, software and accessories) reached $232 million, the most for any console in the U.S.
  • During the month of August, the top two console game titles were for Xbox 360: “Deus Ex: Human Revolution” and “NCAA Football 12.”
  • GP007

    Who needs a price cut when you’re still selling so well?   Of course I still expect one since Sony did theirs, but it seems MS isn’t in a rush atm.

    • Aaron

      the console is already down to 200.  Crummy Atom netbooks are usually more expensive than that.  I wonder how much lower can it could go and remain profitable?  At this late stage of the console life, selling the hardware for a loss may not be a sound investment.

    • Cody Yancey

      A lot of hardware (game consoles, phones, laptops) are sold at or even slightly below manufacturing cost + licensing. Profit is largely derived in other areas, such as trialware (bought an HP lately?), advertising (every Google product), service packages (data plans, Xbox live Gold), and of course games.

  • GP007

    Who needs a price cut when you’re still selling so well?   Of course I still expect one since Sony did theirs, but it seems MS isn’t in a rush atm.

  • Anonymous

    MS stock continues to stay stagnant despite Xbox headline sales :S

    • Aaron

      That spells a bargain for me.  Everyone is too focused on Apple stock right now that they are forgetting Microsoft and Intel stock perform very well.  I personally plan on trying to plop down a chuck on cash on their stock before W8 hits since I think it may be a serious game changer.

    • Guest

      Limited/no growth = limited/no upside.

    • Anonymous

      With the fresh new coming of Windows 8, consumer interest in MS will blow up. Holding onto MSFT right now is very promising for profit in the near future.

    • Guest

      Xbox profits are minor relative to MS’s overall EPS.

  • http://twitter.com/levifreeman Levi Freeman

    kinect can sit at the base or on top of your tv. in the uk having it at the top means you dont need to use as much space. what has the kinect been selling though, on its own?

  • http://twitter.com/bnlf Bruno Nunes

    we had a nice price cut in Brazil for many Microsoft products including xbox around 25-30%. 

    • Justin

      That’s beacuse Microsoft is now manufacturing consoles in Brazil instead of shipping them from China. Huge cost savings passed on to you. Should be a big win for MS in Brazil against Sony and Nintendo.

    • Jairo

      definitely a good move for msft here.

  • Anonymous

    When will new dashboard get released??? :)

  • Guest

    Xbox has done well after losing a tremendous amount of money historically (believe it’s still in a negative situation over its life). But when you look at gaming today, isn’t the real competition Apple, not Sony or Nintendo? That’s where the volume and momentum really is: casual mobile gaming. And right now MS isn’t much of a player there. Maybe they need to extend XBL to iOS and Android?

    • http://twitter.com/laserfloyd Lewis McCrary

      Maybe, but I’d guess they want to pull people over from those platforms before anything else.  It’s on WP7 right now and there’s talk of XBL even being a part of Windows 8.  I’d think they’ll exhaust all of those options first before making XBL available to Android and iOS.

    • Guest

      Yeah, I think you’re right. Just not sure that’s the best approach.

    • http://twitter.com/yardmanflex yardmanflex

      XBL will never go to competing platforms….

    • SD

      Actually, according to MSFTs annual reports, XBOX has been profitable for the past two years now and there is a lot more momentum going on since the arrival of Kinect….

    • Anonymous

      You’re missing the major point. Xbox now controls the U.S. living room HDTV. Xbox isn’t only about games. TV and Skype services will eventually become much more important than games.

  • Anonymous

    The Dude abides…

  • Anonymous

    The Dude abides…