600,000 Xbox 360 consoles sold in US

"What is up with this comment? While it is not mandatory that a game has to support live in order to be good, the opposite is true as well. Whether you want to admit it or not the future of gaming is online period. There will be plenty of games that don't support it but the trend is going in the direction that MS is taking. We are going to see more and more persistant worlds created in the near future. Why, because people prefer to play with others than by themselves and/or against the AI. As great as God of War is it would be so much better if you could play with your buddy in co-op mode, online. The way I like to look at it is that Microsoft is bringing the community back into games. It reminds me of the community that used to exist at the arcade back in the day, except now I can do it all from my living room. No, of all the things that will define the next generation of gaming Xbox Live is probably the most definitive".





Settle Gretal, all I'm saying is, that MS needs to get some games on their system that are just great slices of gaming. I know online is the future, but the future your talking is a long way off for mainstreamers. I have xbox live & PS2 online, I like the live service it kicks the crap out of Sony's. But it should, as the console launched more than 1 year after the PS2, & unlike the PS2, it was built to be able to be played online. On saying that, the most fun I've had on any console online game, has been socom 2. That to me says that the online service is secondry to the games.



I also have to add that I have played single player games, much more than online games, & I still do. MS do not have any games like some of Sony's & Nintendo's exclusives, that pride themselves on gameplay & fun. This is proven by the dismal launch of the 360, sure they have a good launch lineup, but if they wanted to somehow get a jump on Sony's massive lead, they should have released the console 3mths later, so more units were ready, & had a 1st party game on launch that gave reason for people to buy it.

Actually Nintendo does intially sell their console at a loss, but their more recent consoles have been less expensive to produce (cartridges when others went CD, proprietary disc when others went DVD), and have recovered the original investment sooner than others. And let's not forget, Nintendo is perhaps the top software house overall, even though they only develop for themselves.



Nintendo has also been at this longer than anyone. Revolution is what-- their 5th major console? Sony is approaching #3 and Microsoft just introduced #2.

"I don't care who wins the war, but so far its not looking good for MS. Any other view has to ignore the facts on the ground. Lucky for them though, is that Sony seems to have nearly as many problems getting to launch as MS has had after launch. Nintendo could go either way at this point".



Do you know some facts about Sony's new console that nobody else does? The only people who seem to think Sony are having launch problems are, media bullsh!!t artists & fanboy bullsh!t artists.

Financial analysists have been saying for 6-12mths that Sony will wait to see how 360 sales go, before even thinking about launching PS3.



I agree with them, Sony are smart & will biatchslap MS when the time is right. Why would they potential screw sales up on existing hardware?



The problem with people is, that when they don't hear noise, they make there own. So when Sony are tightlipped, like they said they were going to be, all these media sources & other console fanboys, draw there own conclusions, make sh!t up & try to use scare tactics. I'm no fanboy, but I must say from past experience that a helluva lot of people are gonna buy PS3 in all countries, when it 1st launches & for years after. Apart from that I agree withall you said portnoy.

kizza says: "I agree with them, Sony are smart & will biatchslap MS when the time is right. Why would they potential screw sales up on existing hardware?"



Followed by: "I'm no fanboy"



Oh kizza, you're so cute.



Nick

portnoy:



* 2 weeks behind would be December 31st, not Christmas. Gee, end of month. Wonder why that might be important.

* A linear sales curve is reasonable given that sales of the console are constrained by supply, not demand. Rate of production should actually increase over time, meaning more units should be produced/sold in the second 45 days than the first.

* Given the division of launch inventory between the two contents was roughly 60/40, and that the split between the US/EU for the original xbox was 60/40, I don't believe this is an unreasonable estimate. If you have other information which states otherwise, state it.

* DOA 4 sold more copies in the first day than 360's sold in the first week. The minimum number of consoles sold would equal the number of copies of DOA sold. Given that an attach rate of 100% for a single game is unlikely, assuming an attach rate of 60-70% and derriving the sales of consoles from that figure is not an unreasonable assumption. Contrast that with the attach rate of other 360 titles, and I expect you'll see that an attach rate in that range would be on the high end.

* I don't expect to hear raw numbers from Microsoft before their Q3 results are disclosed unless they are severely under or over publicly announced estimates.

* If you think the 360 launch has been poorly executed, you have a rather short memory. Getting the console out by xmas '05 was crucial for Microsoft; just getting it out in numbers was a victory for them (consider the competative landscape if they had launched in March or May, the impact on their partners and developers of launch titles, retail relationships, and the press coverage [which would be "Microsoft fails to ship console ontime", instead of "Microsoft sells out due to limited supplies"]). Their only problem is not being able to match demand, and while an issue is certainly less severe than missing their launch window.



Additional point of fact: Microsoft has been estimating 4.5-5.5 million units sold since early November; they haven't changed their estimates for FY05. Don't believe me? Google it.



I'm not saying my estimates are 100% correct. I am saying, that given the lack of other information, this is probably the best *estimate* we can come up with. Your response is nothing but a knee jerk temper tantrum.

Bottom line:



600,000 units in 6-7 weeks is one of the weakest console starts. Maybe it'll improve over time though?

Um, duh.



The Dreamcast has outsold the 360 so far:



"It enjoyed brisk sales in its first season and was one of Sega's most successful hardware units. In the United States alone, a record 200,000 units had been pre-ordered before launch and Sega sold 500,000 consoles in just two weeks (including 225,000 sold on the first 24 hours which became a video game record until the PlayStation 2 launched a year later)"



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreamcast
Um, duh.



The Dreamcast has outsold the 360 so far:



"It enjoyed brisk sales in its first season and was one of Sega's most successful hardware units. In the United States alone, a record 200,000 units had been pre-ordered before launch and Sega sold 500,000 consoles in just two weeks (including 225,000 sold on the first 24 hours which became a video game record until the PlayStation 2 launched a year later)"



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreamcast

If I could find one I'd buy it.

I also think the launch titles were too heavily slanted towards first person shooters. There was nothing for gamers like me who are not that into sports/car games or fps. That left the rest of us with Kameo, not exaclty a game to get the blood pumping. I'd like to have a 360 by the time the new Splinter Cell is released.

Mirobin,



You continue to make no factual sense. Fabricated guesstimates are no replacement for hard evidence. Period. The facts are that MS are NOT meeting their original sales targets which they had already scaled back before launch. They will not meet them and they have even restated their targets since launch. I suggest you follow your own advice and google it, rather than using the words "attach rate" 50 times to sound like you know what you're talking about when you clearly don't. You are a lone fanboy trying to make a small raft of speculation while floating on a sea of overwhelming evidence. Unfortunately, you're sinking and no one is coming to save you. At this point we can look back and see huge problems with the launch. Some people, mostly fanboys, refuse to admit it. If you want to stage a fanboy rant about how sweet the hardware is, thats fine, but don't try these pathetic rationalizations to justify a weak launch as being great. It doesn't matter why it was weak, the end result is the same. They are not doing what they wanted with it thus far. Maybe they will be able to turn it around. Personally, I hope so.



As for Sony, and having facts that no one else, does, of course I don't. However, I think that the march release of PS3 will NOT happen. Not in any territory. For Sony to continue these claims is silly in my opinion.

It doesn't really matter if they hit their sales goals in time or not. They just need to end up making money on the deal.



The 360 and it's fantastic features will speak for itself. The only people who won't be buying them are gamers who have never played an Xbox, and still think the PS2 has some type of gaming value attached to it. Mine sure doesn't.

"It doesn't really matter if they hit their sales goals in time or not. They just need to end up making money on the deal."



Ok, well it seems they are neither going to make their sales goals nor make money. So now what? They have already lost more than 5 billion on xbox. The odds of them making that back in the gen are nearly nil. Maybe next gen they can see a profit. Even that is doubtful with as much as the 360 costs to produce. Personally, I think the shortage is because the production costs were much higher than anticipated so they cut production to a minimum until parts prices come down a bit. Once the materials costs come down, they will ramp up production to a respectable level. Either that or they had to halt production while they address the hardware defects that were causing overheating. This could have caused the shortage too.

What I want to see a comparison on, is Sony claims vs Microsoft claims. Start with the PS2 vs Xbox first. Sony has yet to actually provide meat to their claims. And I'm not talking about sales figures. Who cares. Gameplay and features. That's what's important. And shut up about HD. HD does NOT equal Virtual Reality, like some people act like when the talk about it.

What really gets me, is that the original Xbox should be considered "Next Gen" to the PS2. I used to love the PS2. I supported it to the death. Until a friend left his Xbox over at my house for about a month. I haven't looked back.

So I understand Sony-supporting, but it really is okay to allow another system to come into your life. Really. You miss so much when you stick by Sony.

Ok, well it seems they are neither going to make their sales goals nor make money. So now what?



Of course they won't make any money now. I'm not talking the immediate future. Do you really think that the Microsoft Marketplace, XBL, and the slew of games coming aren't going to help them catch up? Please. Think a little before you assume they won't make any money. If Gates decides to be in it for the longhaul, Microsoft has play money.

"Of course they won't make any money now. I'm not talking the immediate future."



Ok, what future are you talking about exactly? 2006? 2007? 2008? Even with sales DOUBLE of the original xbox, they will wont be able to regain the 5 billion they lost already. When exactly do you see the xbox division getting out of the red? Hopefully the shareholders are as patient as you are.