Some more pertinent information: The Xbox, according to VG Charts, sold 330k of it's 500k in 2002 alone. Therefore, 65% of sales of the Xbox were in its first year. The 360 has no such tracking that's similar to that. Oh, top games for the Xbox over 50k units sold (2002): DOA3; 195,346 (wow!) Halo; 76,932 (wow!) Murakumo; 55,651 Omniusha; 50,119 Just under 700k pieces of s/w sold in 2002 vs. 330k h/w units (only a sucky 2.1 tier ratio) In 360's first year (lets just count Dec here), the 360 had 85k units sold for December. A pitiful number compared to the orig. Xbox's decent 330k units sold. Software was 143k units with; DOA4 selling 57k units (which had 1 week to sell in Dec, had nearly the same tier ratio as DOA3 did) Ridge Racer 6 at 36,912 units PDZ at 21k and everything else sucking. Obviously, the 360 failed compared to the Orig. Xbox in terms of sales, but of course it only had 1 month vs. Xbox's nearly full year. In Xbox's second year (2003), h/w sales were only 96k, and 330k software units were sold. DOA Beach Volleyball sold 135k, and no other game managed over 50k for the year. DOA3 sold 30k, and Dino Crisis 3, and Soul Calibur sold 30k as well. In the 360s first full year, and for this analysis, second year, h/w sales were 200,291, and software was at 749,075, higher than any total year the orig. Xbox ever had (and best non-launch year that MS ever had in the region) Top games were: Blue Dragon with 126,765 units, Lost Planet and Dead Rising with around 50k each, DOAX2 with 70k units among other games. In Xbox's third year (2004), only a bitter 37k units sold that year, with 210k software units. DOA Ultimate sold 81k as it's top game. Ninja Gaiden did 66k, and Halo2 did 50k. Mind you, theres no way either game could of done well due to such horrid system sales. Thus far, in 360's third year (2nd full year), with 6 and 1/2 months left, the 360 is at 98,596 h/w units, and has 383,670 software units sold, already passing the orig. Xbox's entire lifetime sales of software. In Xbox's fourth and last year (2005), 12k units sold, giving the orig. Xbox a measly, bitter, pathetic, 477,809 units by year-end. VGChartz only counted another 6k software units sold. So we have the orig. Xbox at: Hardware; 477,809 Software; 1,232,488 As of now, the 360 is at: Hardware; 383,910 Software; 1,276,119 So in 18 and 1/2 months, the 360 has already passed Xbox's entire lifetime software sales, and is within 90k hardware sales. My point in all this; MS has a far better system than it did last time. The Xbox died after year 1, and the 360 is only increasing in sales. Regardless of what you want to believe, the 360 will greatly surpass Xbox's sales in Japan, and has already beated Xbox's lifetime software fewer uber-titles such as DOA. The support base is bigger for software. The tier ratios are higher. So I'd say by the time everything's said and done, the 360 should end up with around 3m hardware units (ultra high end, 1.5m at the lowest feasable end), and somewhere around 6m to 15m software units. That's 10 times the software, and anywhere from 3-6x the hardware. Possible? Yes, the 360 is tracking that way. Between higher year to year sales, and a longer lifespan with much greater dev support, we should see the 360 do well, and the next Xbox doing even greater. IMO, the Next Box could do anywhere from 5 to 10m units in it's lifetime, giving it a significant presence in Japan by 2015 to 2017. Obviously not a contender for #1, but it would atleast have a fighting chance in Japan.
Back from the dead, I'm afraid.
