Actually, make that several milestones. We’ll begin with the biggie, though – Xbox 360 sales have just passed the 30 million mark, globally. That’s just the beginning of the corporate winkie-waving too, with Microsoft claiming an incredible (but true) 20 million+ active subscribers to the Xbox LIVE network. On top of that they have these rival-baiting stats: - US consumers have spent over $14.5 billion on Xbox 360 hard/software at retail. "We've always been confident that Xbox 360 offers more entertainment value than any other console on the market, and these latest numbers show that consumers agree," says Xbox honcho, Don Mattrick, not a little smugly. Microsoft’s numbers are certainly impressive – particularly the high software attach rates and the large proportion of 360 owners taking up an Xbox LIVE sub. However, in pure hardware sales terms, the Xbox 360 still occupies the middle ground. With an installed user base of 30 million the 360 is comfortably ahead of the PS3 (22 million, at current estimates) but is way, waaay behind the Wii which, with around 50 million global users, owns nearly 50% of the entire hardware market. One step at a time, though, eh. And with Sky TV functionality and mainstream consumer-friendly apps like 1 vs. 100 incoming, well, let’s just see what the big ‘Box can do in the year ahead...
- 360 game sales have generated $5.9 billion for third-party publishers.
- One billion pieces of content have been downloaded from Xbox LIVE.
- LIVE subscription levels have jumped 136% since the launch of the New Xbox Experience last November.
- Xbox 360 owners have an average of 8.3 titles each.