Microsoft says Xbox business had best year in its history
Microsoft has closed the books onward what it’s calling the biggest sales year in the history of its game console business. The company has sold 28 the multitude Xbox 360 consoles globally and now counts more than 17 million members to its Xbox Live service, which has become a highlight of the business.
Xbox 360 sales increased 58 percent from the end of 2007.
The company claimed any 8 a thousand thousand unit lead over Sony’s PlayStation 3, up from a 5 million to 6 million unit lead in the presence of the holiday season, reported Aaron Greenberg, director of product management for Xbox.
Sony, in a statement, described its holiday give relish to as “solid” and said it has delivered “consistent pullulation throughout this year.”
“Early internal data points to an increase of more than 130 percent of PS3 hardware sales for the holiday season (since Black Friday) and we’re also seeing a growth of nearly 40 percent in total PS3 hardware sales for the calendar year,” Ian Jackson, Sony Computer Entertainment America’s sales iniquity president, related in a statement. The 130 percent vegetation is relevant to the weeks antecedent to the holiday season and the figures are for Sony in America, not worldwide, a spokesperson said in e-mail.
Greenberg declared Microsoft was most pleased through the performance of Xbox Live, its online entertainment network. “Consumers are really spending record receipts online over Xbox Live,” he said.
Earlier this year the company announced that consumers had exhausted $1 billion in succession downloadable content — including add-ons for the sake of games, television shows and movies — over Xbox Live because that Microsoft launched the Xbox 360.
While the company is not updating the revenue figure, it did say that online revenue increased 84 percent in 2008 vs. 2007.
“A lot of that is driven by dint of. the growth of our online offerings, and not just game content, but also entertainment like movies and TV shows,” Greenberg said.
The account of supple Xbox Live members also grew 70 percent to 17 million during the year.
One new Xbox Live feature, access to Netflix On Demand service, has been particularly popular after its dilate in November, Greenberg said. “It proved to exist a huge success for us,” he uttered.
Note: I updated the original headline to mirror that 2008 was the best year in the history of Microsoft’s game console business, not the best holiday season (though it may have been that, in addition).
Original text: http://blog.seattletimes.nwsource.com/techtracks/2009/01/05/microsoft_says_xbox_business_had_best_holiday_seas.html
