Xbox 360 tops U.S. console sales again in April, nearly a year of domination

By Tom Warren, on 12th May 11 10:18 pm with 8 Comments

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

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 10 out of 11 months. The Xbox 360 outsold both the Wii and Sony PlayStation 3 in April with 297,000 units. The sales figures are up 60% from the same period last year, the largest growth of any current generation console on the market. “Demand for games such as “Kinect Sports” and “Dance Central” helped propel the Xbox 360 into the number-one selling video game console in April.” said Microsoft’s Jeff Meisner.

Microsoft’s Kinect accessory is the likely reason the Xbox sold well in recent months. The company experienced some shipment issues in December which meant it failed to secure the top spot. Microsoft launched its 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.

Microsoft is planning to introduce a Spring dashboard update shortly that will include support for the recently announced Avatar Kinect. Microsoft also has the massive Gears of War 3 title on the horizon for 2011 which is likely to set sales records.

April highlights from NPD Group include:

  • Xbox 360 sold 297,000 units in April, maintaining the number one console spot in the U.S.
  • Xbox 360 console sales were up 60 percent year over year, the largest growth of any current generation console on the market.
  • Total retail spend on the Xbox 360 platform (including hardware, software and accessories) reached $310 million, still the highest among current generation consoles.
  • During the month of April, five of the top 10 console game titles were for Xbox 360, including: “Crysis 2,” “Mortal Kombat,” “Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12,” “Michael Jackson: The Experience” and “Portal 2”.
  • Onyx

    So how far behind are they from the Wii on overall dominance in the console war? Just curious……

    • http://twitter.com/tonycubed Tony

      Quite far away still…

  • ZombieDarwin

    Total units sold is important, but game sales is what encourages developer interest, and actual usage by customers. Wii sold a lot, but their game sales is low. The money is all in the games and services.

  • Shiro

    I hate to say it but the US in Microsoft’s ONLY market leader. The PS3 outsells the 360 in every country outside the US. The PS3 has already outsold the 360.

    • http://www.appatic.com Avatar X

      Are you sure, because in Mexico the Xbox 360 is also the leading console. by far. So i guess that proves that USA is not the only country where it is the market leader.

    • Anonymous

      The Xbox 360 outsells the PS3 in Canada and I believe some other countries in the Americas as well though I don’t know for sure. Also the PS3
      has not outsold the 360–the 360 topped 50 million worldwide late last year and the
      PS3 only reached that milestone about a month ago. If not for Kinect, PS3 likely would
      have passed the 360 by now but Kinect makes it doubtful that will ever happen now.

    • Anonymous

      exactly what the other people have said. maybe in some countries isn’t leader, but remember when xbox was a “failure” because it didn’t sell much? and look at it now, leader in some countries besides US and also you have to remember PS had 2 really popular consoles, ps1 and 2 were really popular, but even that, xbox360 this time is the one selling more than ps3 in some countries, specially since kinect was released.
      but anyway, numbers are just numbers, 1 of my friend has xbox and the other ps3. and they are happy, so numbers aren’t important when both consoles are good.

      .

  • http://twitter.com/Cody_Langman Cody Langman

    I agree, companies are not expecting to make money of the console itself. Microsoft and Sony are hoping consumers buy a lot of the games made for its console.