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Microsoft sells (ships) only 1 million Xbox 360s in the first five months of 2012

M

Mario007

Member
This is something I noticed the other day and I don't think many people truly realised this either.

On January 10th, Microsoft proudly announced that it has sold (shipped) 66 million Xbox 360 consoles. This was quite an achievement as it ended up meaning that Xbox 360 outsold (outshipped) Sony's PS3 in the previous year.

Relevant link: http://media.next-gen.biz/news/ces-xbox-360-sells-66-million-kinect-18-million

Not to miss an opportunity to boast when it comes to sales, on May 30th Microsoft went on to boast about another great achievement when it came to Xbox 360's sales: it has sold (shipped) 67 million units.

Relevant link: http://uk.gamespot.com/news/xbox-360-reaches-67-million-life-to-date-sales-6379008

Now, there's only two explanations here really. Either Microsoft massively overshipped the Christmas period, so much even that it would ship only 1 million Xbox 360s in the next 5 months or simply Xbox 360's sales have fallen off a cliff. It could be the combination of both too, I guess.

For comparison recently we learned that in Q4 (Jan-March) PS3 sold (shipped) 1.9 million units. Since we're another two months away and going with the trend that Q1 and Q4 are kinda similar one can guess that PS3 managed to sell (ship) another 1.2 m which brings us to 3.1 million, a full 2.1 million units above Xbox 360.

Relevant link: http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/IR/financial/fr/11q4_sonypre.pdf
 
C

cw_sasuke

If all DLC came tied to $13 figurines, I'd consider all DLC to be free
3DS sold nearly 2 million so far in Japan alone this year.... but it is dead as is handheld gaming :-/
Do we have any shipment numbers for Ps3, Wii, 3DS and Vita for this time period ?
 
E

Elios83

Member
US market sales have collapsed, Xbox is the one who suffers the most.
But it's too early for this discussion, let's wait until the next round of financial results in late July.
 
M

mboojigga

Member
They haven't even done a price drop. Plus most of their sales come towards the end of the year similar to previous years. Even in 2011 everyone was boosting about how it was the year the PS3 was supposed to actually past the 360 in WW sales. All that talked stopped or dwindled at the end of the year. Plus is it really irrelevant today? I don't think any of these companies are concerned or riding hopes that one will surpass or the other will be a few million ahead. It has been 7 years of eventually the PS3 will surpass. Not like development will switch over. Again all this with no price drop for the last 3 years.
 
F

Foffy

Banned
Valnen said:
Pretty much everyone that wants a current gen console has one at this point.
Click to expand...

This, and I thought we were at a point that despite there still being games in the pipe on PS3 and 360, the declining sales are signs consumers want a new generation. Anyone who wanted a 360 has had nearly six years to decide if they wanted one already.
 
M

Monty Mole

Member
Pretty sure this happens every year. Channels always get stuffed in time for Christmas, then the remaining stock sits on shelves and shipments are lowered.
 
M

mboojigga

Member
Elios83 said:
US market sales have collapsed, Xbox is the one who suffers the most.
But it's too early for this discussion, let's wait until the next round of financial results in late July.
Click to expand...

How is MS suffering the most in the US? Which number do you think they care about more. The 40 percent drop and STILL number one selling console 15 months in a row. Or the more than half money spent was on 360 products? What would you call that is happening to Sony if MS is "suffering the most"?
 
K

Kazuma Kiryu

Member
shocking. 360 and ps3 need a price drop near the holidays not just to face-off with the wiiU but to move more units before the new consoles drop.
 
M

Mario007

Member
TerryWogan said:
Careful with the wild assumptions about how many Sony shipped, there...
Click to expand...

I tried to base them in reality, looking at how Q1 and Q4 compare to each other. Then, since they tend to be same, I basically took the Q4 figure, divided it by 3 and multiplied by 2. It's an educated guess, true, but I think the figure is close enough to the truth.

cw_sasuke said:
3DS sold nearly 2 million so far in Japan alone this year.... but it is dead as is handheld gaming :-/
Do we have any shipment numbers for Ps3, Wii, 3DS and Vita for this time period ?
Click to expand...

Well 3DS is a new console, it's kinda expected to sell as well (though fair play to it for selling so well, albeit at a loss).
Unfortunatelly Sony didn't share their Ps3/ps2/psv/psp sold (shipped) figures at the e3 this year so no data on that front (same can be said for nintendo with Wii/ds/3ds),

Bruno MB said:
Microsoft shipped 1.4 million units of Xbox 360 from January 1, 2012 to March 31, 2012.
Click to expand...

Is that from official MS sources? Because if it is, then they are contradicting themselves.
 
E

Elios83

Member
mboojigga said:
How is MS suffering the most in the US? Which number do you think they care about more. The 40 percent drop and STILL number one selling console 15 months in a row. Or the more than half money spent was on 360 products? What would you call that is happening to Sony if MS is "suffering the most"?
Click to expand...

It's suffering the most with worldwide shipments obviously, which is what we're discussing in this thread.
If their main market goes down, it's not like they have much else to compensate. UK is in the shit too, the rest of Europe and Japan doesn't care.

Btw OP is wrong, Microsoft shipped 1.4m in the January-March period, they will probably report shipments below 1m in the next quarter.
So yeah, not good numbers but not as bad as the op suggested.

Also both Microsoft and Sony should cut the price in late summer otherwise the next holiday season sales will take a nosedive compared to last year, also considering that all the best and more original games which were scheduled for 2012 have been delayed and we are left with AC and COD...how original :D
 
Clear

Clear

CliffyB's Cock Holster
mboojigga said:
How is MS suffering the most in the US?
Click to expand...

Because their sales have dropped by a higher proportion than PS3 has. And with that their volume advantage shrinks globally because NA has always been 360's strongest market by far, representing just over half of all sales LTD.
 
S

szaromir

Banned
Microsoft only provides quarterly updates (more frequent during Holiday season), you should wait for actaul data until the end of July (their next financial report).
 
M

Mario007

Member
szaromir said:
Microsoft only provides quarterly updates (more frequent during Holiday season), you should wait for actaul data until the end of July (their next financial report).
Click to expand...

I gave a link which has x360 sales as of May 30th according to Microsoft itself.
 
E

Erethian

Member
Foffy said:
This, and I thought we were at a point that despite there still being games in the pipe on PS3 and 360, the declining sales are signs consumers want a new generation. Anyone who wanted a 360 has had nearly six years to decide if they wanted one already.
Click to expand...

I'd say it's more a sign they want consoles that cost less than $200. Historically the 360 and PS3 are way higher than what a console at this point in the cycle would be.
 
M

Mario007

Member
Actually could a mod change the title and add 'My Analysis:' before what I've have as the title since it can be quite misleading.
 
U

user_nat

THE WORDS! They'll drift away without the _!
Mario007 said:
Very official. That's why it's really odd that they would then say that they shipped 67 million at the end of May (as a hype speech prior to e3).
Click to expand...

My guess would be rounding + the 3rd quarter report being the last numbers they had.
 
M

michaelius

Banned
Valnen said:
Pretty much everyone that wants a current gen console has one at this point.
Click to expand...

Completly wrong 200-250 euro for console is still expensive in Eastern Europe and developing countries. If they managed to get them to 130-150 that would be lot more people being able to afford one.
 
Clear

Clear

CliffyB's Cock Holster
Mario007 said:
I gave a link which has x360 sales as of May 30th according to Microsoft itself.
Click to expand...

The report you cite also includes the claimed "47% share of current-gen console market" which is extremely vague in terms of scope and reference.

We know for a fact that its not true globally on a month-by-month basis, nor is it true in terms of LTD sales either including or excluding Wii.
 
M

mboojigga

Member
Elios83 said:
It's suffering the most with worldwide shipments obviously, which is what we're discussing in this thread.
If their main market goes down, it's not like they have much else to compensate. UK is in the shit too, the rest of Europe and Japan doesn't care.

Btw OP is wrong, Microsoft shipped 1.4m in the January-March period, they will probably report shipments below 1m in the next quarter.
So yeah, not good numbers but not as bad as the op suggested.

Also both Microsoft and Sony should cut the price in late summer otherwise the next holiday season sales will take a nosedive compared to last year, also considering that all the best and more original games which were scheduled for 2012 have been delayed and we are left with AC and COD...how original :D
Click to expand...

I am responding to your post which clearly states US Market has collapsed. I just think some of you look at just the shipment numbers and simply ignore the rest of the info that is out their. MS individually in the US is still doing better than the other companies both in numbers and profit as a company.
 
L

lockload

Member
Mario007 said:
I tried to base them in reality, looking at how Q1 and Q4 compare to each other. Then, since they tend to be same, I basically took the Q4 figure, divided it by 3 and multiplied by 2. It's an educated guess, true, but I think the figure is close enough to the truth.



Well 3DS is a new console, it's kinda expected to sell as well (though fair play to it for selling so well, albeit at a loss).
Unfortunatelly Sony didn't share their Ps3/ps2/psv/psp sold (shipped) figures at the e3 this year so no data on that front (same can be said for nintendo with Wii/ds/3ds),



Is that from official MS sources? Because if it is, then they are contradicting themselves.
Click to expand...

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2...360-sales-down-nearly-50-percent-year-on-year

So we know for a fact they had shipped 1.4m by the end of march so please correct your title
 
W

Wubby

Member
New version doesn't RROD so less double dipping?

End of life cycle and their price is too high for what you get. PS3 at least gets you a blu-ray player. Anyone who doesn't have one at this point isn't going to get one or are smart enough to wait for an eventual price drop.
 
E

Elios83

Member
Mario007 said:
Very official. That's why it's really odd that they would then say that they shipped 67 million at the end of May (as a hype speech prior to e3).
Click to expand...

The point is that press releases use rounded numbers so they're not precise. Their goal is to make the information clear and impressive for the public, not to be precise. So there can be considerable rounding.
What matters are the shipment numbers reported in the fiscal results, MS has shipped 1.4m in the January-March period. By the end of June they will surpass 2m, although not by much I believe.
It would still be a low number for half a year, but we'll discuss about that when we have official numbers.
 
M

mboojigga

Member
Wubby said:
New version doesn't RROD so less double dipping?

End of life cycle and their price is too high for what you get. PS3 at least gets you a blu-ray player. Anyone who doesn't have one at this point isn't going to get one or are smart enough to wait for an eventual price drop.
Click to expand...

Blu-Ray in a PS3 stop being an incentive for about 2 years now.
 
E

Elios83

Member
mboojigga said:
I am responding to your post which clearly states US Market has collapsed. I just think some of you look at just the shipment numbers and simply ignore the rest of the info that is out their. MS individually in the US is still doing better than the other companies both in numbers and profit as a company.
Click to expand...

No I don't think so.
You're ignoring how:
1)As the US market sales have gone down, the monthly sales lead that Xbox has enjoyed over competition like PS3 has shrinked considerably. Xbox used to sell way more than 100k units more than PS3 every month. Now that lead has gone to 50k at best.
2)Deteriorating US sales affects Xbox the most at a worldwide level, since MS has not other markets to compensate, if US sales collapse, the same will happen to their global sales. This was what my post was about.
3)Microsoft is of course really protifable but maybe you have not noticed that last quarter their entertainment division was again in the red.
 
NinjaBoiX

NinjaBoiX

Member
mboojigga said:
Blu-Ray in a PS3 stop being an incentive for about 2 years now.
Click to expand...
I don't know about that. I mean yeah, you can grab a BD player for less than £100 nowadays, but anyone struggling over which console to buy, I bet "one of them plays BD's" is a factor for most people.
 
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