MS release a few sales numbers

[PARANOiA]

Assuming "sales" means "shipped" of course.

http://www.majornelson.com/archive/2008/01/03/some-xbox-360-numbers.aspx

The PR team has just released some interesting numbers on where we are with the Xbox 360 that I thought you would enjoy discussing:

• We have sold more than 17.7 million Xbox 360 consoles worldwide
• More than 8.1 million copies of "Halo 3" have been sold since its launch (September 25, 2007)
• Mass Effect" reached 1.6 million units sold, in just six weeks (on sale November 20, 2007)

I am very glad Mass Effect managed to succeed given the kind of game it is. I'm curious how it stacks up against other WRPG's.

 

[expletive]

I think they sold a ton of premiums this holiday. As of today they are still sold out in all the major big box retailers in my area and a few i walk by in NYC. They do have some halo and arcade editions but I was very surprised that they actually sold out of the $349 360s. I believe that MS miscalculated the popularity of the arcade edition and made too many. Clearly there were more people willing to plunk down 349, at least in my neck of the woods.

 

[Inquisitive_Idiot]

Very impressive numbers!

I wonder if Halo 3 is firmly the most popular online FPS game available right now? The only games I could see challenging that claim would be CoD 4, and Counter-Strike & Counter-Strike: Source. Does anybody have the monthly average numbers for these games? I checked Bungie.net and it reports that there are currently 194,000 people playing Halo. I think it peaked over 1 million at launch, and I have seen it doing 400K plus on a Saturday evening.

 

[AlphaWolf]

Very impressive numbers!

I wonder if Halo 3 is firmly the most popular online FPS game available right now? The only games I could see challenging that claim would be CoD 4, and Counter-Strike & Counter-Strike: Source. Does anybody have the monthly average numbers for these games? I checked Bungie.net and it reports that there are currently 194,000 people playing Halo. I think it peaked over 1 million at launch, and I have seen it doing 400K plus on a Saturday evening.

Cod4 was ahead of halo3 for a while, but I think halo3 has since regained the lead (in terms of live users).

 

[PARANOiA]

Considering Halo 2 was the top Live game well into the 360's launch, this doesn't surprise!

It does pose a little bit of a headache for other developers of course... how do you compete with such a monster? Though with nearly 18 million gamers out there, it should give some comfort to know the userbase can support multiple titles - especially if a lot of the Xbox Live jerks stick with just Halo.

 

[AlphaWolf]

Considering Halo 2 was the top Live game well into the 360's launch, this doesn't surprise!

It does pose a little bit of a headache for other developers of course... how do you compete with such a monster? Though with nearly 18 million gamers out there, it should give some comfort to know the userbase can support multiple titles - especially if a lot of the Xbox Live jerks stick with just Halo.

Well there's good with the bad, the halo phenomenon has drawn in a lot of gamers to FPS on the console. I don't know that CoD4 would have done so well without Halo opening the door for them.

 

[Inquisitive_Idiot]

Well there's good with the bad, the halo phenomenon has drawn in a lot of gamers to FPS on the console. I don't know that CoD4 would have done so well without Halo opening the door for them.

I doubt CoD 4 or any other great FPS games would have been released for console were it not for Halo and Xbox / Xbox Live.

 

[ShaidarHaran]

I doubt CoD 4 or any other great FPS games would have been released for console were it not for Halo and Xbox / Xbox Live.

That's just silly. Halo was not the first FPS on a console. Not by a long shot. FPS's have never been locked out of the console market.

 

[archangelmorph]

That's just silly. Halo was not the first FPS on a console. Not by a long shot. FPS's have never been locked out of the console market.

Exactly!

Hello! Goldeneye people..??

 

[vazel]

Oh yea there was Goldeneye before but that didn't mean FPS was a big genre in general. That and the Turok series and Perfect Dark were the only major FPS games and only on the N64 which was second fiddle to the Playstation. FPS games have never been as popular on consoles as they are now after PC developer friendly Microsoft + Halo entering the arena.

 

[Albuquerque]

Oh yea there was Goldeneye before but that didn't mean FPS was a big genre in general. That and the Turok series and Perfect Dark were the only major FPS games and only on the N64 which was second fiddle to the Playstation. FPS games have never been as popular on consoles as they are now after PC developer friendly Microsoft + Halo entering the arena.

Uh? Grand Theft Auto, anyone?

 

[vazel]

That's not a FPS.

 

[archangelmorph]

Oh yea there was Goldeneye before but that didn't mean FPS was a big genre in general. That and the Turok series and Perfect Dark were the only major FPS games and only on the N64 which was second fiddle to the Playstation. FPS games have never been as popular on consoles as they are now after PC developer friendly Microsoft + Halo entering the arena.

Well to be fair.. Not genre was really *that* popular on consoles back then in the "accumulated sales to rule them all" kind of way..

Not to menton the fact that even PC FPSs back then didn't sell much better than many of the other popular genres on the platform..

 

[dobwal]

Oh yea there was Goldeneye before but that didn't mean FPS was a big genre in general. That and the Turok series and Perfect Dark were the only major FPS games and only on the N64 which was second fiddle to the Playstation. FPS games have never been as popular on consoles as they are now after PC developer friendly Microsoft + Halo entering the arena.

I think it was games like Halo and SOCOM that brought online multiplayer to the forefront on consoles. However, Goldeneye is considered the first great console FPS and paved the way for future great console FPSes. It showed that a well designed FPS could do very well critically and financially on a console. Goldeneye sold something like 8 million copies and was only outsold by the Super Mario 64 and Mario Kart on the N64.

The N64 playing second fiddle to the PS seems a little disingenious when you touting a game released on the Xbox. A console that was less competitive against the PS2 than the N64 was against the PS1.

 

[vazel]

I think it was games like Halo and SOCOM that brought online multiplayer to the forefront on consoles. However, Goldeneye is considered the first great console FPS and paved the way for future great console FPSes. It showed that a well designed FPS could do very well critically and financially on a console. Goldeneye sold something like 8 million copies and was only outsold by the Super Mario 64 and Mario Kart on the N64.

Goldeneye was just one game. There were only a small handful of FPS games that neared its popularity. FPS gaming presence in general was small on consoles before.

The N64 playing second fiddle to the PS seems a little disingenious when you touting a game released on the Xbox. A console that was less competitive against the PS2 than the N64 was against the PS1.

I wasn't touting the Xbox as the starting point of the huge popularity of FPS. That's just when the process began. Things didn't explode until the x360 came onto the scene. It wasn't just Halo I was talking about but Microsoft creating such a friendly environment for PC developers in console gaming.

Doesn't surprise me that people on this forum hold such contention against my claims. Most of the console gamers on this forum seem to be made up of current or ex-PC gamers that surprise surprise prefer the x360. I get more agreement on other forums about how much things have changed from the good ol' days of console gaming...

 

[Npl]

Oh yea there was Goldeneye before but that didn't mean FPS was a big genre in general. That and the Turok series and Perfect Dark were the only major FPS games and only on the N64 which was second fiddle to the Playstation. FPS games have never been as popular on consoles as they are now after PC developer friendly Microsoft + Halo entering the arena.

Well, the PS had "Medal of Honor" among others. But yes, the flood of FPS`s for the consoles is depressing.

 

[vazel]

Oh yea Medal of Honor was a big game when it came out. I knew I shouldn't have said what I said as an absolute. But the point still stands that the FPS genre used to be small on consoles. I don't just mean the amount of games released but the games that got people talking. Games like Armorines didn't get many people excited.

 

[zed]

Very impressive numbers!

very impressive?
17.7 - 10.4 (at the same time last year) = 7.3 million shipped in a calender year, hardly impressive at all.

theres no easy answers for MS to turn this around, they had easily the best lineup of the 3 consoles in 2007, yet it still wasnt enuf. Im not sure what they should do (major pricecuts are out of the question)

 

[scooby_dooby]

very impressive?
17.7 - 10.4 (at the same time last year) = 7.3 million shipped in a calender year, hardly impressive at all.

theres no easy answers for MS to turn this around, they had easily the best lineup of the 3 consoles in 2007, yet it still wasnt enuf. Im not sure what they should do (major pricecuts are out of the question)

Sure, if you ignore the fact that they overstuffed the supply chain last year 2-3 million units. The shipments during the first 6 months of 07 were paltry as a result.

We'll have to wait to see next quarter's shipments to tell whether they did that again, but anecdotally it doesn't seem to be the case, and if not, then MS sold about 10million units last calender year. Which is pretty impressive, especially considering the lack of price reductions.

Your idea that MS needs to turn anything around is rather silly. They will likely match the LTD of their previous console, within the first 3 years.

 

[Zassk]

You are comparing the wrong numbers. They did not sell 10.4m in 2006, that was the LTD number for 2005+2006.

Official sold-to-retailer figures (Q407 inferred from news release)

Period		2005    2006    2007
Jan-Mar Q1              1.7     0.5
Apr-Jun Q2              1.8     0.7
Jul-Sep Q3              0.9     1.8
Oct-Dec Q4      1.5     4.5     4.3
				
Total           1.5     8.9     7.3

It appears that at least 1m of 2006's shipments were due to channel overstuffing and didn't actually sell to customers until 2007. By contrast, anecdotal evidence suggests there was no overstuffing done this holiday, since the 360 appears to be supply constrained at many retails (even this week). Therefore, I assert that the 2006 figure is inflated and the 2007 figure is underinflated.

I suggest that the actual retail sales figures are more like 7.9m (2006) and 8.3m (2007). This would match the retail sales growth shown by NPD, MC and CT.