14 DAY TRIAL // Video game publisher and console creator Microsoft has announced that its current Xbox 360 home gaming console has reached worldwide sales of 67 million units, meaning that the hardware platform now accounts for 47 percent of the current-generation consoles market.
Yusuf Mehdi, who is the marketing chief of the Interactive Entertainment division at Microsoft, has stated, “Since 2005 - when we launched Xbox 360 - we have sold 67 million consoles and have generated more than $56 billion at retail, and we’re still going strong in our seventh year.”
He added, “With 47% share of the current-generation console market, we are hitting our stride largely as a result of the success of Kinect for Xbox 360 (19 million sold ) and the flood of new entertainment options through Xbox LIVE (40 million members).”
The very good news for Microsoft is that, for each year it has been on the market, the Xbox 360 has managed to increase its overall sales, mostly at the expense of the Nintendo-made Wii device, which might mean that the console is still a viable proposal for 2013 and beyond.
Yusuf Mehdi has also promised that, at the upcoming E3 2012 event, Microsoft will reveal a number of new games and will expand the entertainment-oriented services of the Xbox 360.
For more than one year, rumors have suggested that Microsoft is already working on a new gaming console, with the reveal planned to take place at E3.
The company has denied these rumors and says that it has long-term plans for its current gaming device, despite the fact that it has never said a new generation is not in the works.
Sony has also maintained that it has a 10-year plan for the PlayStation 3, but the market expects an announcement for a new console to take place before the end of the year.