Microsoft: Nearly 25m 360s Installed

At the BMO Capital Markets Interactive Entertainment Conference on Thursday, Microsoft said it expects to hit a notable milestone with the Xbox 360.

"By the end of this month, we expect our global installed base to reach 25 million units, surpassing that of the first Xbox," said Mindy Mount, CFO of the firm's Entertainment & Devices Division.

She said that the milestone is still "only a start," as "more than three-quarters" of a console's sales occur when it drops to $199 or lower. Three current models of Xbox 360 range from the $199 base Arcade version to the $399 Elite version following an early September price drop.

Due to that drop, Microsoft said sales of Xbox 360 rose 42 percent month-on-month in the U.S., 62 percent in Europe and 500 percent in traditionally Xbox-averse Japan.

[BIoodmask]

Microsoft will have sold more 360s in roughly 75% of the amount of time they sold that many consoles for the original Xbox. Not bad for them being the new kid on the block.

[gametheory]

It's ok for new kids' on the block for doing "just ok". However, Nintendo was once new kid on the block and did much better with the SNES than MS with their 360 on a significantly smaller market. Sega also did better than th 360 with their 2nd console, the Genesis, on a smaller market than it is today. Sony pwned everyone with their 1st and second consoles.

Microsoft is definitely doing better than they did with the first Xbox, but considering they have endless cash, hype and have been throwing dirt at their competition ever since this generation started, the 360 should be in the Wii's place, especially with that price point.

[White-Sharingan]

new kids on the block?

its their second console

sure they arent veterans but not new kids on the block

[Bathyj]

Umm shipped, not sold. You guys always have a problem with that.

You always looking for a concession for being the "New Kid" too. Since when does that have anything to do with anything.

Sony was the New Kid and sold well over 100M PSOne's. M$ is only ONE generation younger than Sony you know.

[THAMMER1]

Installed means sold. 24 million sold is a great achievement for XBOX360. Your problem is that it a positive achievement for the XBOX360. Please get over it already.

[Bitter Tears]

Dude Bathyj just wipe those tears up man I'll explain it to you.

The 360 was at 20 million installed close to the start of the year WORLDWIDE.

The 360 now is rounding 25 million installed WORLDWIDE. It should be 27 million shipped by now.

It shouldn't be much of a surprise there, shhhhhh, it's okay, I'll cry with you.

Our PS3s are great for LBP and R2, shhhhh, that's right just shhhhhhh.

:'(

[morganfell]

Yeah 25 mil. I have had 4 of them. And not because I wanted one in every bedroom.

[THAMMER1]

One for my daughter, Nephews, Lil Brother and me included.

[Bubble Buddy]

How many broken? :P. Kidding. Congrats on MS for doing well. Combine with Sony to kick Wii's as$

[Genesis5]

Thats funny because they were at 22 million this morning.

[Bathyj]

Theres some disillusional Mo Fo's right here. But thats why I love you guys. When I stand next to you I sound really smart.

M$ NEVER gives SOLD numbers. Must we argue this every time? Shipped baby. Thats all they deal with, for the same reason you trim your pubic hair. To make it appear bigger than it is.

Do you really think if they SOLD 25M and therefore must have shipped about 27 or 28M, they wouldn't be crowing from the mountain tops about how they were nearly 30M consoles strong.

No, that doesn't sound like M$ does it? Just like when they overstocked every retail chain on Christmas 07 so their numbers would be huge, only it meant they had to cut shipments for the next 6 months because in was April, May before stores could clear all that excess stock.

The bottomline is PS3 has outsold XB world wide every year since it came out, so that precious lead you'se care about so much has done nothing but get smaller. Its basic maths and doesn't change. Only your perception of it through M$'s spin doctoring can change.

[THAMMER1]

Your are spinning out of controll. You need help.

[Bladestar]

base on your logic then Sony didn't accomplish anything with the PS2... because trust me.. most of us in this side had at least 3 PS2... I personally had 2 PS2 had the disc error on me... and then I wanted a slim one... so, I guess Sony only sold less than 50 Million PS2? which explains the super lower than xbox 360 game attach rate...
If you were smart you would notice the xbox 360 attach rate and how a game like Halo and Gears could sells so many copies compared to the xbox 360 installbase.. that shows that most xbox 360 owners do not own multiple consoles.... who knows genious... even if what you say about RROD is true... people don't simply buy a new one.. they send it for repairs... duhh it's free. Something that was not an option for the PS2.

[Bombomb]

no kiddin and it took sony a while and didn't offer fixes or warranties

anything positive for ms turns into a spin--->super spin---super duper spin..

ms surpases the original xbox sales...ps3 fanboy "well nintendo did it better at one point"

[gametheory]

"hey i went through 6 ps2's"

lol, I went through 20 Xbox 360s already because Microsoft refused to honor the warranty. See? I can also pull numbers out of my ass. Anyone who goes through that many consoles is a moron anyway, either for still putting up with it and not looking for an alternative OR for not knowing how to take care of a console. So whether you're a liar or mentally challenged or plain ignorant (or a combination of these), things don't look good for you. I feel sorry for anyone that actually thinks we'll believe anyone bought the same console over and over.

I owned a PS2 and never experienced any problems with it, hell not with any console until Xbox 360. I am actually on my 4th (now that's a fact), but Microsoft did honor the warranty, I didn't have to pay a damned cent and rightfully so, and nobody would be that retarded anyway. I don't believe a word of what bladestar says, he's a blind Microsoft lemming so there's no credibility in his words.

Anyway, you also say:

"ms surpases the original xbox sales...ps3 fanboy "well nintendo did it better at one point" "

Funny, I own all consoles if that's me who you're referring to, but anyway, you obviously missed the point. It's not just Nintendo that did better, it's Nintendo, Sega and Sony. All did better with their second consoles. In smaller markets. With less money. Microsoft is the most inefficient money spender in this world and everyone knows it, that's how they destroy the competition (which makes fanboys like bladestar and you horny). Just because these facts are unpleasant to you it doesn't mean they aren't true or that you have to be a fanboy to state them. Just because Microsoft did better than last time it doesn't mean they're actually doing good. Sony did better than last year but they're still doing abysmal considering the Wii is outselling them 2 to 1 LTD and this month it was 4 to 1.

And LOL @ how bladestar downplays the PS2 from 140 million to 50 million, talk about being delusional. He talks about attach rates without talking about piracy and mass markets, now that's denial. Can anyone get any more fanboyish? Yet they call me a fanboy for stating the facts that all other major competitors after Nintendo became the leader succeeded better than Microsoft did even though Microsoft has always had more advantages than pretty much everyone else.

[morganfell]

Worlwide NPD? Please. Now you are just making crap up. Go cry those bitter tears at someone else. Sony took Europe from MS, took the world, and will take the US overall this year.

[cherrypie]

"Umm shipped, not sold."

NO. Can you read? It said;

"By the end of this month, we expect our global installed base to reach 25 million units"

Do you "install" unsold machines? This is *not* simply shipped, but **INSTALLED** (sold).

Nice try. I *really* like the way you people try and blatantly re-write news as it is presented to you. Can't you read?

@morganfell
"Yeah 25 mil. I have had 4 of them."

Thats a fcuking lie. These are *sold* units; you DIDNT buy 4 seperate Xbox 360s -- and, that number has nothing to do with warranty repairs.

HOWEVER, because SONY told me to go frakc myself when I had **3** PS2s fail, **MY** 3 failed PS2s are included in the 100M PS2 number.

MS took care of its problem with a $0 warranty repair -- and fixed the problem last summer.

BTW - I've marked your comment as OFF TOPIC -- we need a "fanboy troll" button here for comments like yours.

[HWG]

Listen to gametheory... when I confronted him with data in a private message, he refused to answer me and blocked me. Anything as such he says, should be totally ignored... he obviously does not wish to have debates, he just wants to have his fanboy argument and feel better.

[robep3]

......INCLUDE people who on 360 sites who SAY that are on 2,3,4,5,6,..upto 11TH 360 for one guy due to RROD? so LETS CHOP AT LEAST
15-20% for those (should be more LIKE 25-30%) so more like 19-20m at best.

Rob

[JasonPC360PS3Wii]

Doing ok is better than "old kids" or "old pro's" doing poorly.

[Socom]

I think Steve Balmer should fire whoever there spokesperson is because those claims are RETARDED.

[AAACE5]

That comment sounded extremely stupid! The NES came out during a time when videogames were being considered a fad, and alot of investors were ready to pull the plug on the gaming industry.

Technically, the NES had no comeptition, and were free to make new rules for gaming! The NES is responsible for gaming still being around, and it deserves it's respect!

But nintendo had enough time to etch it's way into gamers hearts! Sony got popular during a time when people wanted something different, which they provided and pushed the industry foward!

MS' main focus was to make online gaming popular, which they have done, and have caused Sony and Nintendo to take seriously!

So MS should get at least a little bit of respect from all gamers... especially if you like being able to play online games with your favorite controller, in front of your TV!

Not to mention the fact that they could reach that many consoles sold, despite having all kinds of problems along the way, while competing against console legends like Sony and Nintendo!

I know alot of you may hate MS (for whatever reason), but you should give them a little respect! MS' main contribution to gaming is online play and HDD's, while Nintendo and Sony were content on us buying multiple memory cards, and didn't think online gaming on a console was that important!

I respect all 3 companies! 4 if you include Sega(they did a few things in their time). Nintendo saved gaming! Sony revolutionalized gaming! MS connected gamers! Sega was first with online gaming!

[prowiew]

Just chill bathyj. And please, no need to insult others. That goes for everyone. Peace oout

[No Way]

It doesn't say that they sold 25m.. it says the expect to sale 25m, by the end of the year.

@BathyJ- Nobody cares.. Move along. And, please stop crying.. will ya? Grow up.

@gametheory - I myself went through 4 PS2's. And, my brother's together went through 7 of them. How's that so hard to believe? The PS2 had many problems.. I had one that had a disc read error, one stopped playing PS2 games(yea.. seriously), one that had it's own screen, the screen stopped working, and one that completely died..

[The Matrix]

I'm getting a 360 this holiday to compliment my PS3. Why argue which console is better when you can have them both and buy the best games from both sides?

[Imallvol7]

congrats MS, now if we could just get the 360 and ps3 selling better than the Wii so companies would stop making shovel ware and make great games . . . wait . . . what am I saying? I can't even afford the games I want this month! There are so many!!!

[v1c1ous]

the leading console is always the one with the most crapstacular games (shovel ware).

unfortunately for wii, its specs have forced devs to go another route, which is the 360/ps3.

so in a way, the fact that wii is monopolizing the garbage games, it doesnt dilute the quality titles on gets to experience by owning a ps3/xbox 360.

so being a 360/ps3 only owner this gen isnt as bad as being a gamecube/xbox only owner like last gen, where all the good games were only on ps2.

[Anon1974]

Even though the 360 is now the cheapest console out there, that hasn't stopped the Wii from still doubling the 360's numbers over the last 2 months. I don't really know how much of an impact the price cut is going to have for the 360 in the long run.

[silverchode]

now ms and sony need to team up to take the wii down :)

[Imallvol7]

can I get an AMEN!!!

[RememberThe357]

AMEN!

[Bladestar]

nahhh... the fact that Sony and Microsoft are ripping their guts out is the reason why we have so many games now and no time or money to play/buy them. Nahh.. let's them be adversaries... I mean look at what happens when a company have no competition like Nintendo... where are the hardcore games? Where are the Online improvements on the wii? No firmware update since launch...

[OOG]

now....its makes you wonder what it could have done without all of the rrod issues etc that plagued the system....

[Nicolator]

Even after all that MS did with the xbox360 and the RROD releasing a faulty system into the market the 700+mill for warranty they still sold 24+mill??? damnn.. and i knw loads off ppl that didnt buy it coz of the RROD. without that issues.. i am sure 360 would be pass 30 million by now.. without a dout..

[Bitter Tears]

Or maybe if there was no RRoD, people who didn't want failures and went to buy another console would have actually bought the 360. It would have been the PS2 of this generation though I doubt it'd reach it's numbers.

Wait Bathyj... are those tears running down your face? Wait man, chill out it's only numbers... Wait shhh wait, come on Bathyj it's not that serious. Shhhh. Look I'll cry with you again.

:'(

[Nicolator]

its still impressive nontheless can someone please take Wii down.. coz those guys are messing up teh gaming industry and taking us back to donkey kong...

[Dannagar]

@Bathyj

The Hardware to software ratio indicates other wise. The Xbox 360 has a high software to hardware tie-in ratio. It's higher than both Wii and Playstation 3. That wouldn't be the case if the average user bought 4 Xbox 360 systems. If it makes you feel better, you can pretend that's the case.

[cherrypie]

Bathyj>>>> TAKE YOUR TROLLING TO THE OPEN ZONE >>>>>

The heat issues were fixed under FREE WARRANTY. NO ONE had to buy a new machine to replace a broken one; because MS TOOK CARE OF ITS CUSTOMERS.

Now, I had -- and everyone I know -- had a PS2 fail (i have 3 failed in my closet right NOW)... what did Sony do to fix that? NOTHING.

Thats the difference, Sony's Ps2 sales **ARE** inflated by replacement units, whereas MS's are **NOT**.

You constantly bring this **FALSE** idea up, it only makes you look more ridiculous because it is actually SONY who's numbers are inflated by SCREWING over its customers.

[BlackTar187]

maybe 4 but I dont know what you gus had with sony back then. I rememebr calling them adn barely explaing the problems I had and with in 10mins I got the okay for the boxes and next day sent all 3 out and with in 2-3 weeks had all 3 systems back for free no charge.

Im just staing my exp. with sony and multiple problems with the ps2 were all fixed no questions asked for free with excellent speed. But that still shows that I have bought 3-4 ps2's and that goes into the total. Im sure others have 2

[rhood022]

That's amazing since, in a press release in May 2008, MS touted a US install base of 10 million and their global install base at "nearly 21 million." Even with more current numbers, including the "10 million milestone" in Europe, it would push the numbers at about 22 million and some change.

Soo..either MS has sold nearly 3 million consoles in about six months. Or they are inflating those numbers a bit.

[Blitzed]

Thats a good point. They did add the 'nearly' in there though, and that word is subjective. LOL

Its like 'soon', learn to use that word and it will keep you out of trouble with the wife.

[NickIni]

Nearly 25m just means over 20m to be honest. They do reckon by the end of the month, but they'll probably sell about 200k this month. If they're that close to 25m, then they would either just say they were at 25m, or not bother making this statement at all until they actually were at 25 million.

[GiantEnemyLobster]

Unfortunately PS3rd Place only has 16 million. Lol.

[tortella]

dont inflate those numbers

X360 is around 22m by November . Will be around 24/25m By december

PS3 will be around 21/22m By December

Also PS3 is selling at a better rate than x360 at similiar timeframe.

MS sold 16m X360s in 2 years

PS3 has already passsed that with November and December sales pending

[Bitter Tears]

Actually it's closer to 2.3-2.4 million sold, 2.6-2.7 million shipped.

PS3 is now at 19-20 million shipped/sold?

@tortella

Here's a tissue man, sit there and listen up.

With recent NPD information, this doesn't count everywhere else except the NA.

PlayStation 3 190K
Xbox 360 371K***

Hardware LTD:
PS2: 42.743.000
NDS: 22.893.000
WII: 13.351.000
PSP: 12.806.000
360: 11.613.000***
PS3: 5.684.000***

Hardware YTD:
WII: 5.981.000
NDS: 5.341.000
360: 2.459.000***
PS3: 2.441.000***
PSP: 2.308.000
PS2: 1.887.000

The 360 has taken worldwide sales of 2008 from PS3.

And before you mention the LBP and R2 thing...

LBP which was supposedly was suppose to outsell Fable II and Gears of War 2 has been embarrassed in the NPD in days... 215K. Fable II sold 350K at launch, Gears of War 2 has 2.1M first day.

Sources:
http://www.n4g.com/xbox360/...
http://www.n4g.com/industry...

Top 10 SW
Publisher Release Date Rank # Units
360 FABLE II MICROSOFT (CORP) Oct-08 1 790K***
WII FIT W/ BALANCE BOARD NINTENDO OF AMERICA May-08 2 487K
360 FALLOUT 3 BETHESDA SOFTWORKS Oct-08 3 375K
WII MARIO KART W/ WHEEL NINTENDO OF AMERICA Apr-08 4 290K
WII PLAY W/ REMOTE NINTENDO OF AMERICA Feb-07 5 282K
360 SAINTS ROW 2 THQ (CORP) Oct-08 6 270K
PS3 SOCOM: U.S. NAVY SEALS CONFRONTATION SONY (CORP) Oct-08 7 231K
PS3 LITTLE BIG PLANET SONY (CORP) Oct-08 8 215K***
360 NBA 2K9 TAKE 2 INTERACTIVE (CORP) Oct-08 9 202K
360 DEAD SPACE ELECTRONIC ARTS Oct-08 10 193K

Even SOCOM outsold LBP, most people were supposedly suppose to buy LBP on launch day, so the 4 day release argument is in the air.

Come on, stop your spinning and accept it.

Wipe up those tears.

[tortella]

Those are shipped numbers from MS ass

X360 doesnt selll anywhere in the world except USA

LBP was launched on 28th .

PS3 SW sales for oCTOBER WAS 2.3M units an increase of 100% over last October, 2007

PS3 HW sales also increased considerably 120k in Oct 07 to 190k in Oct 08

2008 is the last year for garbage box 360 in world market

x360 sold 22m units to customers vs 17m ps3s

PS3 still outsells x360 in Europe at 3x the price

PS3 HW sales in October increased by 56% over last year and SW sales increased 100% over last year

Oct 07
HW - 120k
SW - 1.1m

Oct 08
SW -2.3m
HW -190k

Stupid BOT x360 wont be here in 2009

MS played its last trump card --the price cut. x360 is already the cheapest console in the market and its price is below 200$

However SONY can cut PS3's price 4x --50$ each

So all trump cards are with SONY next year when GT5/MAG/KZ2/GOW3 are launched

too bad flop box has no games for 2009

[Bitter Tears]

tortella, you do realize that Microsoft never does announce games 2 years before release like Sony does right? When was Gears of War 2 announced? February 2008?

When was Killzone 2 announced? 2005? 2006? I don't even remember anymore and it's coming out in 2009!

Microsoft already hinted at 360 "surprises" so theres' your argument.

You do realize that the 360 still has SKUs at $399 and $299 right? Doesn't the "4x 50 dollar price drop" apply to the 360 as well? The arcade model can also be lowered by $30 intervals like the PS2 was.

I love how you compare BAD numbers to BAD numbers from both years. 190k consoles is nothing to gloat about there boy, the Wii and 360 are crushing the PS3 and the Wii is crushing the 360. Live with it bro, you're 3rd.

Quit your crying man, you're embarrassing yourself.

WAHHHHHHH THE 360 OUTSOLD THE PS3 AGAIN EVEN THOUGH LBP IS OUT WAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH THE 360 IS A FLOP AND EVERYONE KNOWS IT WAAAAHHHHH THATS WHY IT OUTSOLD THE PS3 WWAAAAAAAHHHHH.

[Snukadaman_]

Cmon man forget what console sells more...wii is murdering both at this point.....jstfuajpycoc.

[pansenbaer]

"The 360 has taken worldwide sales of 2008 from PS3."

You start off talking about NPD data and then bring worldwide sales into this? The PS3 is about 1 million ahead of the 360 in worldwide sales for this year. So for the 360 to beat the PS3 in worldwide sales for 2008 they would need to sell 1 million MORE consoles than Sony in 2 months. Not going to happen.

[JasonPC360PS3Wii]

You are all wrong, PS3 just hit 15.

[joevfx]

the 360 has been out a full year longer then the PS3. acutally, thast pretty bad numbers for the 360 compaired to the PS3 with a year lead in the market.

[GiantEnemyCrab]

speaking of talking out of your arse tortella where is your Nasim account?

I think Bitter Tears has the number's down why you seem to be speculating or in your words talking out of your arse. When you say things like

"Those are shipped numbers from MS ass

X360 doesnt selll anywhere in the world except USA"

Which is complete BS that anyone with a web browser can debunk. The 360 sells in all market's, maybe not the most but it does sell. The UK for example the 360 does outsell the PS3. When you say crap like that I'm not going to put much faith in your numbers.

[THAMMER1]

The XBOX360 has had it low points but it looks to getting over them pretty well.

[gametheory]

They mean shipped and ready to be sold at retailers. There will be 25 million 360s installed by the end of this year, not by the end of november. By november they will have shipped 25 million. They've done that several times, there's no reason why they'll be honest now. Besides, Microsoft also counts each RROD'd unit twice since they ship a new one and refurbish the old one in order to sell it cheaper at retailers. Microsoft hasn't sold 23 million Xbox 360s, they're at 22.5 million just like Sony is at 16.7 million give or take.

Microsoft sold this month about 400k 360s give or take. They'll probably sell almost another 3 million consoles during November and december (the highest months for game sales) which will put them in the numbers they actually say they are in right now. As I said, they're talking shipped by the end of this month, most of which will sell next month.

[Software_Lover]

For one, Microsoft doesn't ship out new consoles when one gets sent in for repair. They stupidly send out refurbished units from the factory. Which I believe is the main reason, some people got RROD multiple times.

And they have used the term shipped before. Installed is different. Same with Sony. Same with Nintendo.

[RememberThe357]

That now Sony is only reporting sale number now.

[cherrypie]

" When Microsoft says installed
They mean shipped and ready to be sold at retailers."

Who the hell do you know that?

You're making CRAP UP FFS. STFU.

Really, how much crap are you children goign to invent to make yourselves feel good?

The news: MS has sold 25M Xbox 360s. DEAL. WITH. IT.

[kevin1112]

microsoft means shipped, just like the first year when they said they sold 10 million 360's even tho the real number was around 7. and btw, when people ask how many of those are rrod they mean how many of those are from people returning their 360 into a retail store for another one. to the store that counts as another sold so im curious also how many they account for.

[Sez]

you know i going to play this stupid game these fanboys are playing. because it killing them that the 360 is 8mil ahead of sony. i guess sony didn't sell 125mil ps2. since alot of them died of DRE. so in truth sony only sold 25mil ps'2. because 100mil suffered thru dre. right.

[DJ]

That means they're only averaging 8 million consoles a year worldwide. That's no better than the PS3, which averages the same figure but costs twice as much.

With the huge failure rates, we can assume 16~20% of all 360s don't work anymore, but Microsoft isn't honest enough to cough up those figures.

[BIoodmask]

Sony sales to Microsoft sales. Sony owned over 75% of the console market with the PS2. For Microsoft to even be close to Sony in sales is impressive. Based on previous generations Sony should be crushing Microsoft saleswise.

Sony has far more brand recognition for consoles than Microsoft does.

[THAMMER1]

Sadly DJ is exposing that fact he is a hater.

edit:
DJ please just stop it. Numbers do not lie, facts are facts. Look at that context. PS3 was out sold by more than 100,000 and your scratching around in the dark for an excuse.

[DJ]

PS2 launched a year after the dreamcast, but a year before the Xbox and Gamecube, both of which were abandoned just a few years after their launches. The PS2 only recently hit the 120 million sold mark after 8 years on the market.

The 360 had the entire next-gen market to itself for one year, and is already the cheapest offering (incredible considering the Wii's actual cost of components). There's actually no data to imply, let alone prove, that "Sony should be crushing Microsoft." PS2 didn't win overnight; it took 6 years of hard work to win its generation. Had the Xbox (for example) not been abandoned 4 years after its release, the Xbox install base would probably be close to 50 million right now.

Microsoft actually should have crushed Sony. They sold 10.5 million 360s in year one, and have averaged 7 million in year 2 and year 3. Why the sudden drop? When the 360 is $199 and PS3 is $399, the 360 should be selling twice as good worldwide on a month-to-month basis. But as it stands, their annual sales figures are nearly identical.

Microsoft has a lot to be worried about, as they cannot drop the price of the 360 any further. Sony on the other hand has a lot more wiggle room, as well as a HUGE amount of exclusive games. And as we all know, it's the games that make the hardware successful.

[RememberThe357]

LBP and Socom didn't have the best launches ever... We'll need to see next months number to be sure if Sony's software strength.

[DiabloRising]

DJ is sorta right, and Bloodmask is sorta right. Stats can be spun to favor any situation, thats why my prof always told me. Can't we just like... enjoy the games, and stop putting so much stock in numbers? We aren't working for these companies, why not let THEM handle that crap, and we can simply... I dunno, be gamers? Can't we accept that its a 3 console generation, that things have changed since the destruction the PS2 wrought upon its competitors, and just have fun?

[Bladestar]

DJ you hate Microsoft enough to know how they approach a market.

1 iteration - introduce a product to test water (original xbox).
2 iteration - try to capture as much market share as possible (xbox 360).
3 iteration - destroy the competition by using their financial strength, partnership, subsidizing cost and offering features and services that the competition may not be able to provide.

Microsoft interest was not to beat the playstation brand with the xbox 360... but to gain marketshare.. and thanks to Sony's focus on blu-ray and the mistake they made by making the PS3 so expensive they capture more than they could of hope and are even making a profit!

Now they managed to capture the full original xbox installbase in half the time!

If they manage to sell 50,000,000 consoles before the next xbox comes out... they will already have all the strength and brand recognition to take on Sony and Nintendo the next time around... and best of all.. making money while at it.

[ultimolu]

You have a good point DJ but unfortunately it will fall to deaf ears. :/

[gametheory]

Bloodmask, by your logic, Microsoft should be crushing Sony right now the way the PS2 was crushing the first Xbox considering all the advantages it has had over the PS3, but it isn't. The market is doing the way it is for a reason. Neither Sony nor Microsoft are doing as good as they hoped. Microsoft actually hoped to sell 15 million consoles the first year they were in the market. Sony probably hoped to sell 20 million. Neither did. Only the Wii is selling that fast, but sadly, it sucks.

Bladestar, you sound like you're getting a boner about just the thought of Microsoft destroying the competition. I bet you missed most PS2 games last generation. Also, half the time of the original Xbox, you say? The original Xbox was supported 4 years, not 6. Xbox 360 has been in the market 3 years, not 2. As bloodmask say, it took them "only" 75% of the time, not 50% as you say.

However, it took them grueling efforts to do so: Launching a year earlier, losing another billion dollars in warranties for failure rates, releasing an incomplete console with no next-gen drive that is sadly limiting its potential and with that nearly every next-gen game; by not offering HD-DVD to developers, Sony now has that advantage and for that reason they (sony) doesn't even need to release 200 hour games (SAD) because that's not gonna happen on the competition.

Microsoft will have shipped this much by the end of this month, and will have sold this much by the end of the next. It's not rocket science to deduce it if you have seen the monthly NPD sales.

[Bombomb]

what a turn around....

when will we see sony past its original ps2 sales..like 2015

means ms is doing better relative to the original xbox and even surpassed japanese original sale numbers

+1 for microsoft on all fronts early on

[DiabloRising]

Actually Bloodmask made a pretty good point, and a rather un-fanboyish one at that. It's all a matter of perspective. The FUD against these companies is amazing. Sony isn't doing as well as it SHOULD be given its past, but it also isn't doing as bad as fanboys would like it to be given its present competition. Who cares though, unless you work for Sony? It's THEIR job to get their act together, not ours.

But I pity ANYONE who wants MS to "destroy the competition." For people who harp on "choice," being able to "choose" only an Xbox 720 next gen would suck, plain and simple. People seem to forget that.

Hell, I don't want ANYONE to "destroy the competition" like the PS2 did. Competition breeds innovation. If we had a one console generation, it would be terrible for we gamers. Monopolies are BAD, why do people not get that?

[Bladestar]

@gametheory - actually I never owned an original xbox... the PS2 was where the games were at... I never played Halo 1 or 2... I tend to always switch to the right console as the right time...

2600
Nintendo
Super Nintendo
Playstation 1
Playstation 2
Xbox 360

Obviously I owned multiple consoles to play 1 game or two... but fully supported those... I do not stick to a loser console.

And if Microsoft screws up as Sony is doing this gen... I will drop them too!

[DevastationEve]

I would have to say that this is good news all around. PS3 sells because it's a bluray player and games take a backseat to living room appeal. So PS3's price doesn't matter to those people. x360 sells because of hi-def gaming, xbox live, and affordable price.

Don't add things to "make x360 a ps3". The price is what it is, one console concentrates on gaming and the other concentrates on living room appeal. One gives you the guts built for gaming and the other stuff can be added "if" you want them. The other stuffs it all into one package and then lets you decide how many of those features collect dust.

Anyway, for EITHER of them to be where they are right now is pretty dern good.

[NickIni]

But that is last gen. This gen is different.

Now, lets wrap these fanboys in a big box and ship them back to the open zone where they belong.

[ambientFLIER]

Uh...the article says "Installed". Wouldn't that be the same thing as SOLD? 25 million Xboxes sold so far...and probably 26-27 million shipped. Cry me a river.

[2 cents]

No the article says they expect to reach 25 mill by the end of this month. I must agree tho these numbers are kind of fishy

[shqype]

I wonder how much of this "25 million" is comprised of users that are on their 3rd or 4th Xbox 360 from the RROD?

[DJ]

Have had their console fail on them. At that point it's hard to say whether they purchased a new console, or received a refurbished console from Microsoft.

[ReBurn]

Shouldn't be many because Microsoft fixes them for free when they RROD. At least for a little while longer, anyway. The first batch should be coming out from under that 3 year umbrella any time now.

[cherrypie]

How many? Exactly *ZERO*.

Why? Because "sold" is not the same word as "fixed".

Get it?

[absolutecarnage]

Man i wish these ps3 fan boys would just let it be, if it was the other way around, they would be let us know how much better there system was. I just don't understand if its sony numbers winning there correct but xbox numbers are not correct...... Ummmm Yeah that's logic isn't it !!!!!!!! Give me a break . You think these numbers are huge just wait until you see November and December sales for the xbox360, prepare for the xbox360 to blow the ps3 out of the water this holiday season

[kevin1112]

just like last year? how about not being a fanboy.

[karlostomy]

The actual quote:
"By the end of this month, we expect our global installed base to reach 25 million units, surpassing that of the first Xbox,"

implies that by December they will have reached 25 million units installed.

Which means after christmas it will be even higher!

Good work MS.

2008. YEAR of the (insert only obvious choice)

[NickIni]

2008. Year of the idiotic fanboys.

Amiright?

So even if MS had no new games out this year, but broke 25m sales, it would be "year of the Xbox"?

[madmike]

i thought 2008 was the year of the mighty ps3 o well they dont mind waiting maybe next year or the year after that

[karlostomy]

I think you are missing the point.
The only people that coined the phrase "200x... the year of... xxx"
were the SDF and sony fanboys.

In the Sony camp, there was repeated talk to the tune of:
2006 the year of ps3...
2007 the year of ps3...
2008 the year of ps3....

Now it's coming back to bite them in the ass.

What's more is, it seems to be annoying the hell out of the likes of you.
Why is that?

Be honest, friend...!

[Death]

That is impressive for Microsoft. Last Novemner they sold 770,000 in North America alone. Another 1.25 million in December. Add that to the worldwide numbers and they could be close to 28 million by the end of the year.

-Death

[darkjanus]

the reason we "fanboys" trust sony's numbers and not microsoft is the fact that sony dont spin everything like micosoft, as well as screw their customers at every chance.

Hell what other company could have 20% of their consoles fail and claim the replacements as sales. The fact that the 260 is seeling less at s much lower price point shows peole are realising what a shoddily made console it is.

And i to those claiming this new batch will do better all i can say is bravo microsoft its taken you 3 years to fix a problem which engineers recognised before it was launched but microsoft decided to sell it even though they recommened they stop production until the problem was identifyed. Hell im suprised it doesnt come with Vista as standard.

Microsoft is not the "new kid on the block" its the second console its released and is only one generation behindsony.

Apologies as that was a it of a rant but i simply learnt a long time ago not to trust anything microsoft tells you.

[Death]

When PS1 and PS2's failed they were not repaired under warranty since the warranty expired after 90 days. The 360's warranty against 3 ring failures was increased to 3 years. Not one repaired console is counted in retail sales. Had Microsoft taken Sony's approach they would show more sales than they currently do. As for not trusting the numbers, each company reports them to their investors. What point would they be making if hey were not telling the truth?

-Death

[darkjanus]

True the PS2 warranty was shorter, but i thought it was 9 months not 90 days. In either case i had a first generation console which i have played happily for 8 years. 3 years ago i did have to re-align the optical laser in the disk drive but apart from that ive had no problems.

the only reason Microsoft extended the warranty is because so many of their units failed outside it. Due to the far lower fail rate of the PS2 an extended warranty wasn't necessary. And the extension for Microsoft is only for RROD, not the numerous other problems with the console. If Microsoft ahd taken sony's approach wed be seeing a damn sight fewer failures. several of my friends have 360's and all apart from one has RROD at least once. Ill take my 90 day warranty on a product which doesn't break down more often that a fat emo whos out of razor blades.

Now as to the numbers, i never said replacement units were counted as retsil sales, merely commenting on the sly wording used bu Microsoft. They may have SHIPPED 25 million consoles, id still like to know how many of those were SOLD.

Investors dont really care about sale numbers, all they care about are profit margins. As long as they are making a return on the investment then thats all that matters

[Death]

This is a referance to consoles installed in people homes or "sold" units.

I do however agree that investors are more concerned with profit numbers instead of console sales. Last quarter Sony reduced their operating losses to $380 million. Microsoft on the other hand showed a small profit in their gaming business. Nintendo is printing money still.

-Death

[cherrypie]

Sony is the most anti-customer company on the planet.

Proprietary formats, root-kits in music-CDs, PS2s dead by the millions, buying off MPAA partners to kill HD-DVD in favour of the less customer-friendly BR... and on and on and on.

For all the *non*gaming reasons, I swore off sony a long time ago, and I'm happy as heck that MS is winning this generation in console and software; it means that I dont have to buy *any* sony product.

[kingboy]

Someone will definitely not play fair with these sales reports when it all set and done just to stay ahead..what a shady practice!!

[Gantrfaxx]

How many of them had RROD? My friend had two i had one, the list goes on.

[JasonPC360PS3Wii]

Way to go MS! You reached the ibstall base of the Xbox in half the time. The 360 just may hit 40 to 50 million before the next console. At least MS is goig foward and not in reverse, much like the other guys. Not bad for turning a money pit, into profit considering RROD could have ended it. I can live with 2nd place again, it's not like the Xbox brand has gone from 1st to last, in one gen. So far MS has 2 generations of 2nd with consoles and one gen with 1st for games.

[CBaoth]

They've reached the original's install base in 1/2 the time?

MS sold 24 mil Xboxes in 4 years. They'll exceed that number by Xmas 2008, 3 years after launch. How did you derive at your 2:1 ratio? No offense, just trying to get a glimpse into the fanboy mentality to see how exaggerations become perceived fact.

[Lord Xire]

While MS is closing in on 25mil.

The Ps3 is closing in on 17mil.

Making the gap I was under the impression of it being 5million......actually 8million.

An 8million unit gap.....jesus. lol

[Omega4]

Well do you really expect any Sony supporter to bring up that fact, they are to busy spinning numbers to make MS seem worse off

But the funny thing is even when they try to spin and say its really 22-3ml, MS is still beating Sony by 5-6ml which is much more than their previously stated 2-3ml gap

And to make matters worse MS is only going to sell more especially with the current state of the economy and their AAA lineup

[Anon1974]

These aren't the numbers they reported in their last fiscal report. By those numbers they're just coming up on 23 million. Where did this extra 2.5 million come from all of a sudden, and why wasn't this reflected in the last fiscal quarter? They certainly haven't moved 2.5 million in the last month. I suspect some sort of spin involved that will clear itself up when they release their official numbers for the next quarter. They can make up bold claims to the media but they can't lie to their shareholders without being subject to audits. Such is the fate of a publically traded company.

[KARMA2009]

A hurried launch, a desire to win the console war and design compromises lay behind the 'red ring of death' debacle that cost Microsoft $1.15bn
Dean Takahashi
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday November 12 2008 16.15 GMT
The Guardian, Thursday November 13 2008 But will they all work? Photograph: Elaine Thompson/AP
The infamous Xbox 360 "red ring of death" (indicating a failed unit) has caused Microsoft - and its customers - untold pain in the three years since the console's launch in 2005, and cost it $1.15bn (£738m) last year. Microsoft has never said publicly why the console was plagued with faults: it seems that poor production quality was at the heart of the failures - an all-round problem with no single cause except impatience on the company's part as it tried to become the leader in videogame consoles.

It was an ambitious attack. Microsoft's engineers started working on the Xbox 360 at least a year after Sony's engineers began work on the PlayStation 3, yet wound up shipping a year earlier. With the first Xbox, the company lost $3.7bn (£2.3bn) over four years, mostly because costs of the box - particularly its hard drive - were too high. Bill Gates didn't really care about the losses; that was simply the ante for getting into an exciting new business. But Steve Ballmer, who took over from Gates as chief executive during the first generation, really wanted the Xbox business to be profitable second time around.

Software-hearted

Even though early testing showed that production machines had flaws, Microsoft didn't delay the launch because it believed the quality problems would subside. "They got enamored with the idea of the Microsoft army rolling everything out at the same time," says one source. "Their thinking shows that they are a software company at heart," says one veteran manufacturing executive. "They put something out and figure they can fix it with the next patch or come up with a bug fix."

In the hurried design process, Microsoft decided late to add a hard disk drive, and then wireless controllers. The hard drive blocked airflow on one side of the machine; the wireless modules had to have enough space to avoid electrical interference. The console shell was poked full of holes to ensure airflow. In the end, the machine was a series of compromises.

"It turned out in the end that this was all going too far, too fast," says a source. "They were adding too many features after things were locked down. That incremental feature adding just made it fragile."

Some of the defects were latent, potentially not showing up for some time after the machine was used. Up to 50% of all defects can be latent. And production yields - the number of machines coming off the production lines that passed testing - were low. In August 2005, the machines' aggregate defect rate - from Microsoft's contract manufacturers Flextronics and Wistron, in their factories in China - was allegedly just 68%.

In a memo dated August 30 2005, the team reported overheating graphics chips, cracking heat sinks, cosmetic issues with the hard disk and the front of the box, underperforming graphics memory chips from Infineon (now Qimonda), a problem with the DVD drive - and more. At that point, the contract manufacturers were behind schedule and had only built hundreds of units when they were supposed to be making thousands every week.

"There were so many problems, you didn't know what was wrong," says a source. "The [test engineers] didn't have enough time to get up and running." Shutting down production to debug everything properly might have delayed the launch in Europe or Japan.

Microsoft responded to this story (in full at Venturebeat.com) with a statement that it has already acknowledged an "unacceptable number of repairs" to Xbox 360 consoles and had responded to the hardware failures with a free replacement program. "This topic has already been covered extensively in the media," the statement said. "This new story repeats old information, and contains rumors and innuendo from anonymous sources, attempting to create a new sensational angle, and is highly irresponsible."

I have tried to verify the facts. Microsoft has never disclosed its actual return rates. But according to data obtained by VentureBeat, the total number of returns climbed above 1.2m consoles early last year. That is a huge figure, considering Microsoft had only shipped 11.6m consoles to stores by the time of the writeoff in mid-2007.

The warning signs were present even before Microsoft shipped any machines. In August 2005, as Microsoft was gearing up production, an engineer said: "Stop. You have to shut down the line." When production results are really off-kilter, stopping a line and tracing a problem back to its roots is the answer. But in this case, the decision was made to carry on.

Nobody listened to that engineer, apparently because console launches are always hurried affairs. Yields generally start low. As the manufacturers analyse data and tighten controls on each assembly step, they learn how to drive the yields up.

On November 22 2005, the Xbox 360 went on sale. Consumers could run graphically beautiful games on high-definition TVs. But machines started failing almost immediately. At the time, the company said it had received "isolated reports" of console failures and that returns were within the normal range.

According to the Consumer Electronics Association, the average return rate for products where the consumer gets their money back is about 2%. Microsoft's internal data assumed that in the long term 6% or 7% of the consoles would be defective before shipping into the market - a yield of 94% or 93%. The rate of return was expected to be low as well. But even after 2005, Microsoft struggled to ship enough units. The yield was typically only around 70% - far short of the target - until May 2007.

Problems denied

By the end of March 2006, Microsoft said it had shipped more than 3.3m consoles to retailers. But there was a growing "bone pile" of more than 500,000 defective consoles in a warehouse at Wistron and a repair centre in Texas - either duds off the factory line or returned boxes, according to sources. Production yield was climbing, but far too slowly. Meantime, Microsoft stood by its statement that returns were within "normal rates".

The denial of widespread problems infuriated customers such as Chris Szarek, who has had five bad consoles: he felt Microsoft was stonewalling. But as production ramped, Microsoft sent replacement units out more quickly and dealt with those who were unhappy about the shortage. In September 2006 Microsoft conceded that the quality of the consoles made during 2005 wasn't as high as it expected and said that it would extend the policy of free replacement for consoles made during 2005, even though the warranties had expired. But what was actually wrong with the machines? In July 2007 Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft's entertainment and devices division, said of the launch that "we were confident the product was ready. We did a lot of testing. The problem that shows up with the three red lights on the console is a complex interaction with some very complex parts."

There was no single reason for the failures - though many could be blamed on the graphics chip, which could overheat so much it warped the motherboard. This stressed bad solder joints, causing them to fail early in the machine's life - and the console was also one of the first products that had to meet new environmental standards in Europe prohibiting the use of lead in solder. Paul Wang, a Microsoft test engineer on the Xbox 360, said in a speech in 2007 that lead-free solder created a lot of problems.

Wii takes the lead

Sometimes the heatsinks on top of the GPU were put on the wrong way, resulting in overheating. Games would sometimes crash because of sub-par memory chips from one of the two suppliers. Problems with the DVD drive lasted longer than expected. Eventually, in January last year, Microsoft shut down manufacturing of the console and didn't build any more machines until June.

Early this year, SquareTrade, which sells warranties for electronics, reported that was seeing a 16.4% failure rate for Xbox 360s. Michael Pachter, an analyst at Wedbush Morgan, estimates that the number is 3m, about 15% of the total.

In the meantime, Nintendo's Wii has outstripped rival consoles around the world, having sold some 35m machines since its launch at the end of 2006. Microsoft has sold about 22m Xbox 360s since its 2005 launch, while the Sony PS3, which came late to the party with a European launch in March 2007, has sold 16.6m consoles around the world.

But is the war really lost? Shane Kim, head of the game division's business development efforts, recently said that it was too early to call the console war in favour of Nintendo. We won't know the winner, he says, until somebody sells 100m units. Microsoft's plan is to sell 75m Xbox 360s. The only way it could ever do that is to be more aggressive on its pricing. And by doing the right thing for its customers from now on.

[karlostomy]

If you have a point to make, then make concise, short statements.

[Death]

but this is hardly inside knowledge or proven to be fact. It is merely a conclusion he has drawn that may or may not be accurate. Without any kind of confirmation, it is still speculation.

-Death

[GiantEnemyCrab]

Ah, and there it is Page 3 of the SDF manual. When your backed into a corner just bring up the RROD. But I must applaud you on taking it to a whole nuther level copying and pasting that wall of text into the comment.

Which does not belong in this story at all, let alone in the gamer zone.

SPAM.

And Death is right yet again, even though I do have some respect for Dean, he is drawing his own conclusions based on his sources and is speculation.

[Billabong]

And you think using SDF in your comments belongs in the Gamer Zone? Please, your just contradicting yourself. I love when someone writes something others don't like they scream 'SPAM!', it's his views... he wants to write it, it's about gaming, hes not pushing any fanboy comments down your throat is he? Just ignore it if you don't like it.

[Arsenal4Ever]

is this correct? 25 million sold... i thought it MS always reported shipped numbers.

How could there be an 8 million gap when that fat guy in E3 said they have an install base over 5 million. Has the 360 outsolf the PS3 by 3 million units this year already?

I'm not too sure.

[Darkseider]

These are shipped units not installed. I hate to say it but MS goes by shipped numbers only. They did the same for Vista when they tried to hype that turd of an operating system. They included the upgrade certificates as licenses sold even though the units were running Windows XP. Microsoft has been creating numbers for a LONG time and this is just another example of how they manipulate the data.

[karlostomy]

Since when does "installed" = "shipped"

better take the spin-engine around for another lap, dude.

[darkjanus]

simple really if they meant sold they would have said sold. This is microsoft we are talking about, if they could say they had sold 25 million they would say it.

As they specically avoided saying sold that implies these are shipped numbers not sold numbers.

looks like i lapped you you on the track adolf

[Anon1974]

Everyone uses shipped numbers. Obviously each company can't track what every single store sells, what is on their shelves, what isn't. They can only track what's leaving their warehouse which is why each company reports only their shipped numbers.

But still, these numbers for MS seem a bit off. They just had their 1st quarter fiscal 2009 update and they were only at about 22 million or so. They sure didn't move 3 million units in the last 2 months. What gives?

EDIT: I think I get it. MS moved about a million consoles last November, and they're gearing up for December as well. That 25 million figure must be taking into account what they expect to sell in November plus the extra units they're shipping to retailers this month for Christmas. Tricky...tricky.

[darkjanus]

admittedly microsoft can only track shipped units in real time, but they should get an up to date sales report from each big retailer at the end each financial quarter, so they should know roughhy where they stand

But i find it a bit rich to tack the RROD replacements as well as what they expect to shift ovr the holidays to beef up their sales report. In fact thats boardering on downright dishonesty in my book

EDIT: i cant belive that you cant use the word starting with C and ending in heeky. How the hell is c heeky a swear word?

[devilhunterx]

Wow. If they remove the RROD figures, they would have "installed" over 9000!! IMPRESSIVE

[Traveler]

Wow, what ignorance.

[mirroredderorrim]

For the cause... FOR THE WIN1!!

[Blades08]

Why are you guys getting a hissy fit over this. MS reports
shipped number which to them are sold numbers (sold to suppliers of retailers or retailers direct). The same goes for Sony and Nintendo. I highly doubt each company waits for every retailer including mom and pop electronic stores to report back retail sold information. It takes time to compile this information then present it in financial reports and I'm pretty sure their accounting departments are pretty busy with other financial and sales data when quartely reports are due. The confusion comes about when the company use the word interchangably because the know what it means and folks that take it literally. That's what NPD is for and NPD only takes an estimate of retail sales (about 60-70%). The install base is of course lower since you have to have consoles in the supply chain to prevent shortages.

Edit: Apparently everyones estimates are off if MS is saying 25M by the end of this month or the guy is wrong. Guess we will have to wait for next quarter to verify this.

[cherrypie]

Thank god they used the word "installed" so that idiots could understand that they didnt mean shipped.

But, uh, yeah, thanks for playing.

[GiantEnemyCrab]

Maybe the word "installed" would of been an indicator to you that they aren't talking about shipped. Guess not.

[richie007bond]

Same old DJ,still spouting Cr@p,your so anti Microsoft its obscene,every post u make is the same old bile,a gamer you are definitely NOT!!!!!

[CertifiedGamer]

in sales

[Ldubbz]

Wow...some people just cant give the 'box its due. Its already going to overtake the original 'box, and it increased its sales 500% in Japan. 500%...thats a lotta percents!

The biggest story about the 360 is the tie ratio...nearly 10. 10! Thats insane. Not to mention all of the LIVE revenue as well. This is with the system being over $300 for most of its lifetime. Now that its at the magic $200, sales may exceed even MS forecast. Nearly 350k (US) sold after the price cut BEFORE Gears 2 even came out? I think we have a beast on our hands...

...and just read...it says INSTALLED BASE, not SHIPPED right in the headline, so stop making sorry excuses...such denial is hilarious...apparently MS is selling record-breaking amounts of SW to people with no consoles...riiiight

[Citizen Cook]

... But is 25 Million REALLY that great after 3 years? Its Adverage for a console isn't it?

Yes the PS3rd is struggling and pathetic. Thats not the issue. I just want to know how 360 is doin in comparrision to the PS2 and PS1 at the same time in their life spans...

[darthv72]

I think people need to see the past console generations as the reference to how this generation might turn out. Historically speaking, each company who released a console and subsequently a second or more has had greater success with their 2nd console release.

This goes back to the days of Atari on up. Some companies were able to release a 3rd, 4th and even 5th (nintendo) generation system. Looking at the sales of each console as it pertains to their respected generation you can see that the 2nd seems to be the sweet spot. Now with Nintendo they are having a bang up generation with their 5th console (unheard of from any other company) especially considering the turnout for the ones prior.

Here is a list of each company and console that was the greatest success.

Atari: 2600 (2nd console after PONG)
Nintendo: SNES (2nd after NES)
Sega: Genesis/MD (2nd after Master system)
Sony: PS2 (2nd after PS1)
Microsoft: 360 (2nd after Xbox)

Some of those companies released 3rd, 4th and even 5th generation consoles but they never did the same amount of popolarity as their 2nd system. Some may argue differently (especially in the case of Nintendo and Sega) but regardless of personal opinion, I am talking about general overall sales and popularity.

Some companies tried to make a go of it and did pretty well their first time out but unfortunately did not hit the magic mark to release an "official" 2nd console.

Coleco, Intelivision, SNK, 3DO, NEC just to name a few.

I think where MS is now is very much a repeat of history like Sega and the genesis. Taking market share away from the bigger player (sony) is what MS is after. It puts them in a better position to set up for a 3rd console release.

[read disc error]

Interesting theory but the original Nintendo (62 million sold) did better than the Super Nintendo (49 million sold) and the Wii will probably outsell both. The SNES was better hardware than the original but had more competition from the Sega Genesis and Turbografx.

[darthv72]

The thing with the NES is it was still being supported much into the snes release. Very similar to what sony is doing with the ps2 and ps3. Yes the ps1 did very well and was also supported into the ps2 timeframe but the ps2 passed the ps1 in overall sales and popularity.

I think the thing with the original nes is it came out at the right time (right after the crash) and offered a better overall approach to gaming than previous systems. By my original logic, nintendo should have crashed and burned out by the 4th (which they did...sort of) and yet have rebounded in the 5th. Maybe technically it is still the 4th for them. 4.5 generation console.

Sony wants to make money and with a cash cow such as the ps2, they wont drop it so lightly. I think they should and therefore focus more attention on ps3 but that would produce a negative impression on the loyal fans. MS took a risk and it seems to be paying off with dropping the xbox where it stood.

[Shane Kim]

Well then it's safe to say that MS will drop 360 soon and start shoving a new console up your (xbot) asses. Expect so see alot of Shane Kim ;).

[donnie-2105]

dont think anyone can say the xbox360 has will not be a sucess for MS,think there looking at another 3years left for the console and ending on at least 40 to 50 million base.double the original xbox which cant be bad in conjunction with there sucessful online services.i did hear that they only came into the games market to stop an all in one operating service under the tv by the then massive sony as it was a really threat to there windows software opperations.sounds feasible to me,if so its been pretty sucessful in cutting into sonys share as nintendo dont seem interested that much.peace

[tojfs7931]

Wasn't this supposed to be the year of the ps3? Guess not. LBP didn't sell as expected.

[tojfs7931]

Telling yourself that....

[kalel333]

LOL did they count me ??? I bought a 360 and sold it to get a ps3 because i didn't think it was as good . not to say it sucks or anything but i've found my haven with the ps3 . I bet you that a good portion of that 25m is people like me who have switched, and I know many of my friends who have...

[Xbots are pathetic]

they said this LAST YEAR, HMMMMMM I WONDER......

[Xbots are pathetic]

they said this last year, i call BS

[ForROME]

"Microsoft actually should have crushed Sony. They sold 10.5 million 360s in year one, and have averaged 7 million in year 2 and year 3. Why the sudden drop? When the 360 is $199 and PS3 is $399, the 360 should be selling twice as good worldwide on a month-to-month basis. But as it stands, their annual sales figures are nearly identical"

A: Well put, the fact Xbox couldnt put SONY comepletely away only means that will loose to them.

B: Some people are insane to compare, PS2 DVD reading errors to the RROD, wow there are some huge differences there. for one it didnt cost SONY 1.5 billion and the % was no where near what the RROD caused.

C: There are so many articles, stating, MS on almost all their products produces shipped only details, not sold.

Seriously facts are not that hard to find, so find them and put your lame ideas or theories or he said she said ideas away

[Death]

Want to know why it didn't cost Sony 1.1 billion to fix DRE's on PS2? Sony never acknowledged the problem and denied responsibilty. Instead of putting customers first, they opted to increase their sales numbers by hiding behind their 90 day warranty. http://www.us.playstation.c...

For what it's worth I bought three of them myself.

-Death

p.s. the 360 is not "half as much". The Elite sells for the same as a PS3, $399. The Pro is $299 and the Arcade is $199. If Elites were half as much, then you might see even higher sales. The half as much arguement is incredibly weak since it isn't actually based on fact. Unless you happen to know that all Xbox 360 sales are Arcade SKU's and not a mix of the three. Facts aren't hard to find, but you can't look around them to support your opinion.

[cmrbe]

Yeah right. Only in xbots wet dreams.

25 million shipped which will take them another 3 months to sell and this includes defective consoles haha.

So in other words. MS will sell 25 million x360 in 3 years and 3 months while it took them 4 years for the xbox

Wow great freaking improvement. After being first to market a whole year. Being cheaper than the PS3 and stealing alot of PS exclusives this is the best MS can do?. Pathetic really.

[Traveler]

First of all, it's reported that the 360 will reach an "installed" base of 25m by the end of this month (November) and you are claiming that it will take them "3 years and 3 months"? Are you dense? That's slightly over 3 years, not "3 years and 3 months". So they did in 3 years what it took them 4 years to do last generation. And that is considering the Wii sales juggernaut giving them fierce competition on top of the PS3. Yes, I would say that is a very nice improvement.

You attack the 360 and call its sales performance "pathetic", but I wonder what you would call the PS3's sales performance. Last generation, by the end of its second year the PS2 had sold around 40 million consoles. The PS3 on the other hand hasn't even reached 17 million consoles sold. So the PS3 has sold less than half the number of consoles as its predecessor did in the same time frame, while the 360 in a little over 3 years has surpassed the total amount its predecessor sold.

The fact is, the 360 has done much better than its predecessor, while the PS3 has sold much slower than its predecessor. Try to spin it however you like, but those are the facts.

[cmrbe]

This kid thinks that we are all stupid. Traveler. The PS2 sold about 25 million in two years with GT3, MGS2, FFX,GTA3 out for the PS2 at 299 USD you dumb idiot.

http://vgchartz.com/hwtable...

[Traveler]

Wow, the sony defense force denial is strong in this thread. Claiming that these numbers are incorrect when you don't even back up those claims with evidence of your own is just pathetic. The truth is that every bit of data we have points to the 360 being close to a 25M installed base. http://www.vgchartz.com/

The 360 just outsold the PS3 nearly 2-to-1 in North America in October. We don't know what the numbers are from several regions but we know that Microsoft reported that the 360 outsold the PS3 in the UK after the price drop by nearly two to one: http://www.bit-tech.net/new...

[cmrbe]

you use VGcharts as proof LMAO!! but check it. It say 22.5 million. Knowing how VG inflates x360 numbers i am not surprise if its between 21 and 22 million.

The x360 should have done much much better than xbox considering

1. First to the market a whole year without competition.
2. Much cheaper then the PS3 in its lifecycle sofar.
3. Much improved collection of games including Halo 3. MS biggest game.
4. X360 is MS second entry into the console market therefore more well known unlike the xbox.
5. X360 had the 26 million xbox fanbase to rely on especially when the xbox was no longer supported.

After all this MS only manages to reach the xbox installbase 9 months early?. xbox didn't win last gen. You xbots are the ones in denial.

[Traveler]

And yet you provide no evidence or numbers backing up your claims whatsoever. Pathetic. It isn't 9 months either smart guy. The 360 is reaching that installed base almost a year earlier than the original Xbox.

Spin, spin, spin. You spin me right round baby right round...like a record baby...

[cmrbe]

look at the numbers you provided dumbass. http://www.vgchartz.com/ Do you know how to count?.