14 DAY TRIAL // Xbox 360’s momentum could only increase in the second half of 2011, especially since market conditions are extremely favorable to Microsoft. Mixing gaming, entertainment and next generation NUI capabilities into a single product, the Redmond company is dominating console sales in the United States according to NPD.
The Xbox 360 was the number 1 selling console in May 2011 in the US, with over 270,000 units shipped.
“Xbox 360 console sales during May were up 39 percent year over year, the largest growth of any current generation console on the market. May also marked the seventeenth month of year-over-year hardware sales increases,” revealed Jeff Meisner, Editor, The Official Microsoft Blog.
But at the same time, Xbox 360’s success is also beneficial to the gaming industry overall, with developers also increasing their sales.
“Xbox 360 game sales reached $140 million,” Meisner added. “Total retail spend on the Xbox 360 platform in May (hardware, software and accessories) reached $265 million, still the highest among current generation consoles.”
“During the month of May, four of the top 10 console game titles were for Xbox 360 including: “L.A. Noire,” “Portal 2,” “Mortal Kombat,” and “Brink”.”
As far as the US market is concerned, Xbox 360 has outsold direct rivals Wii and PlayStation for no less than 11 months standing. One more month, and Xbox 360 will be the best selling console in the US for the past year, according to the NPD Group.
At E3 earlier this month, the Redmond company showcased a number of innovations coming to Xbox 360 and Xbox LIVE, which prompted Meisner to declare the remainder of 2011 as a monumental half a year for the console.
“Microsoft announced major plans for the world’s best-selling entertainment hub at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles, including new game titles from blockbuster franchises like Halo, Gears of War and Call of Duty,” Meisner said.
“Also at E3, the company introduced voice search with Bing on Xbox and Kinect that will enable people to use their voice to tell their Xbox what entertainment content they are looking for. As if that wasn’t enough, Microsoft also announced that UFC and YouTube will join ESPN, Hulu + and Netflix on Xbox LIVE.”