Dallinor said: Did it really take the 360 3 months just to stack up another million? If so, that doesn't bode well for the system.

Not quite. The 360, in 3 months, sold 1.8 million units....

mrstickball said: 18 down, 42 to go!

The 360 has been out for about 29 months, and will probably have about another 36 months to go before MS replaces it if its life cycle is significantly better than the original Xbox.  So you're assuming its sales will, on average, be more than double what they've been so far to reach 42 million?

mrstickball said: Dallinor said: Did it really take the 360 3 months just to stack up another million? If so, that doesn't bode well for the system. Not quite. The 360, in 3 months, sold 1.8 million units....

"The 360 has been stuck in the 17 mil range ever since January."

It was this comment by the OP that brought me to that conclusion. Although it could have hit 17 million in late january, meaning it took only about 2 months of sales to stack up another mill.

So the system is averaging out at about 150k per week then? Not too shabby, although it could use a boost.

(Which will arrive in the form of GTAIV).

TheBigFatJ said: mrstickball said: 18 down, 42 to go! The 360 has been out for about 29 months, and will probably have about another 36 months to go before MS replaces it if its life cycle is significantly better than the original Xbox.  So you're assuming its sales will, on average, be more than double what they've been so far to reach 42 million?

It was a joke....Read my posts after it.

But at any rate, I do feel that the 360 will average more over the next 2-3 years than the previous 2-3 years, as evidenced by the 40% Year Over Year (YOY) increase that the 360 has had thus far this year. If it continued on that pace (which I'm not saying it will, or won't), it will sell just over 11.5m units this year alone - and still has atleast 1 "very good" year after this, before it crests.

mrstickball said: daactual - meh. It really depends on how long Microsoft keeps the X360 alive, before and after the 720, or whatever, comes out.

I would argue the viability of MS as a platform provider is proportional to the time between 360 and "720" launches.

If they bring a new machine out sooner, I think they are acknowledging they cannot sell effectivey outside the "shooter" audience.

I think if they dig in and support the 360 effectively through an entire console life cycle, they will have a better chance for the future.

The funny thing about the XBOX1 story to me was that the billions in losses were worth it to MS for the "shooter" market, but not worth it to prove themselves to the rest of the market (what with the early XBOX self-demise).  Lo and behold, during the next generation, MS is struggling outside of the "shooter" market.

 

 

 

Montreal -

I don't believe that Microsoft is struggling outside of the shooter market, by any means. However, it does establish the Xbox as "shooter heavy" with the majority of FPS sales being on the 360, even for similar games on other consoles.

More than anything, we've seen the Xbox 360 become the "Western Console" of choice. It features more Western-Centric games than any other console this gen, at a price of less Eastern Fare.

Think about the genres that Microsoft has a near-monopoly on:

Shooters
American Sports (Football, Baseball, Basketball)
Racing (to an extent)
Western RPGs
Real-Time Strategy

In those 5 catagories, the X360 is unmatched. Also, one needs to look at Guitar Hero and Rock Band sales to see, and know that the 360 has a good audience outside of what we percieve as being "hardcore".

However, the issue is convincing previous Eastern-Heavy PS2 owners that bought JRPGs, Platformers, and Puzzle games to come to the 360. That's where the issues lie.

CaptainPrefrences said: 40 million 360's and 65 million ps3's by the end of this gen. i just dont see the 360 surviving after gears 2

because you live in europe, you don't see how popular it is here in the americas.

ToastyJaguar said: CaptainPrefrences said: 40 million 360's and 65 million ps3's by the end of this gen. i just dont see the 360 surviving after gears 2  It will be strong in 2009, remember there is still Gears of 3!  But seriously, Mass Effect 2, Bioshock 2, Alan Wake, Fable 2 will carry the 360 for a long time

At this point, either I think alan wake will be a disapointment, or never come out.  It's been so long!

(I hope it does come out though, and I heard development was in deep  right now.)

mrstickball said: Montreal - I don't believe that Microsoft is struggling outside of the shooter market, by any means. However, it does establish the Xbox as "shooter heavy" with the majority of FPS sales being on the 360, even for similar games on other consoles. More than anything, we've seen the Xbox 360 become the "Western Console" of choice. It features more Western-Centric games than any other console this gen, at a price of less Eastern Fare. Think about the genres that Microsoft has a near-monopoly on: Shooters American Sports (Football, Baseball, Basketball) Racing (to an extent) Western RPGs Real-Time Strategy In those 5 catagories, the X360 is unmatched. Also, one needs to look at Guitar Hero and Rock Band sales to see, and know that the 360 has a good audience outside of what we percieve as being "hardcore". However, the issue is convincing previous Eastern-Heavy PS2 owners that bought JRPGs, Platformers, and Puzzle games to come to the 360. That's where the issues lie.

Sorry I worded that poorly.  Their software offerings are great in many categories.What I meant was the customer base of "shooter" purchasers.My understanding (and observation, which may mean little) is that by and large the 360 userbase is an extension of the XBOX1 user market. I am hoping this neat new controller is real and crank up the competition level again. Either that, or I figure out why things went centred!!! {smiley} 

 

For what I read the first Xbox was killed early due to M$ buying the same CPUs from Intel and same GPU's from Nvidia at the SAME PRICE from launch to its death.

Unlike the PS2 (and now the 360) which over time they can streamline and make cheaper smaller chips and save on production of hardware components.

This is why Microsoft and Nvidia had a falling out over the graphics card on the Xbox. They where charging M$ the same amount for a five year old chip (this part of the reason the xbox was a money pit).

Its been two years and they already made a smaller/cheaper CPU which is saving them manfacturing money and actually selling the 360 at a profit. The new smaller gpu (jasper) will be out this summer, saving them more on production costs. This was not possible on the xbox.

So I think this time around Xbox 360 will have a longer life spand due to them Licensing the Tech from IBM & ATI and being able save on the manufacting cost of the chips.

On the softare side I think they will have some good in the pipe for 2009 & On.

Some that come to mind are probably Mass Effect 2, a new bungie game (they got be working on something now and it will be 2 years since HALO 3), Too Human 2, Bio-schock 2, Forza 3, Team Ninja games (Code Cronos/DOA RPG..Rumored), something from Rare (new Perfect Dark, etc. ) and Lionhead. Some new games from Mistwalker (Cry On or BD2), Infinte Undiscovery (2009).

With all this I think it will reach 40 Million or more.