1 Million 360s a Month By Year's End

GameDailyBiz reports that Microsoft plans to have one million 360's produced a month by the end of the year. From the article: "As has been previously reported Xbox 360 production and availability has already been significantly increased in recent weeks. In the period through Microsoft's fiscal year ending in June, the company expects to pump out 2 to 3 times the number of units it did previously. With Sony's PlayStation 3 launching this November across the globe, Microsoft still has a window of opportunity during which it can extend its lead in the next-gen race considerably."

"the company"

[gabebear]

The quote in the abstract is quote misleading. Mr. Lin from the Wistron company said it; Wistron makes some of the 360's for Microsoft.

Re:November?

[Ewan]

You read it, the story was widely reported, but it wasn't true, just another internet rumour.

Sony have committed to a worldwide release in November 2006.

Ewan
ButtonBashers.com [buttonbashers.com]

Re:How many 360's sold to date?

[Anonymous Coward]

The 360 has sold a little under 1.5 million worldwide so far.

About 100k in Japan.
About 800k in the US.
About 500k in Europe.

The 360 has been selling around thousand or so a week in Japan. It has been selling less than the GameCube over there.

"what happens if we have the 360 as the runaway winner of this console generation here in the States"

That just isn't going to happen. The 360 is the worst selling console since the 3DO; even the first Xbox and Dreamcast sold significantly better.

Most troubling for the 360 is it appears to be selling less and less each month.

Re:1 million per month?

[Anonymous Coward]

There is no 'undersupply' of 360s :)

360s have been in stock in all major US retailers since late February.

One just has to look at the 360 numbers:

Microsoft has been INCREASING production of 360s over the past few months.

However, monthly sales of 360s have been DECREASING over the past few months.

There just isn't much demand for the system outside of the existing hardcore Xbox demographic. Microsoft is on track to sell less than three million 360s this year.

Re:How many 360's sold to date?

[CaymanIslandCarpedie]

Just to clarify, those are basically the number announced for units sold between the launch (Nov 22nd) and Dec 31st '05. We probably won't get another set of reliable numbers until thier next quarterly report.

The numbers above are basically correct (but I think the number was 900k in North America), but just an thought I'd add in the date range that those were for as it could easily be mis-understood to represent more current numbers (which aren't yet available).

They tried to crack Japan's market. And failed.

[ianscot]

MS meant the new box to make inroads in Japan. They did advertise, that's just wrong anecdotal information on your part. The first XBox died in Japan and they wanted to do something to break into that market, no question.

"Since the launch of the original Xbox in 2002, there was one thing that we have consistently said: Microsoft will inevitably succeed in Japan."
-- Takahashi Sensui, Microsoft Japan's Xbox division manager

From this Boston.com article [boston.com]:

"A major part of Xbox's troubles have stemmed from the lack of role-playing games, which are favored here over the shoot-'em-up and action games that tend to be hits in the U.S.

Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft Corp. has made a point of signing on game designers popular in Japan to deliver works like "Final Fantasy XI," set to go on sale later this month."

...Microsoft will also beef up its entertainment downloads catering to Japanese tastes, such as animation trailers, and online gaming available on its online service Xbox Live."

Back in September The Register described MS's problems with Japan the previous time around:

"In a bid to get the product right for Japanese consumers, Microsoft was forced to delay the Xbox's introduction, from December 2001 to February 2002. Hints that it was pondering such a move surfaced way back in March 2001. It did little good, in any case. Microsoft went on to take the axe to its Japanese Xbox workforce in March 2003, before going on to announce a strategic rethink of the Japanese market the following July. Xbox has yet to dent Sony or Nintendo's sales in the country, however.

This time round, Microsoft has made sure it has recruited some of the biggest names in Japanese gaming to the cause. It said it would be showing titles from Square Enix, Genki, Konami, Taito, Namco and others at the Tokyo Games Show."

They clearly wanted to gain ground in Japan. Based on the huge advantage in release dates you'd think they'd have some traction. Right now their sales are last in that market -- behind the GameCube.

Meanwhile I can walk to the nearest GameCube here in Minneapolis and find 360s stacked up on the shelf selling at list price. Huge demand: no. Not here anyway. Some mild interest -- it's the newest thing -- but the kids playing Call of Duty down at Target can't afford to buy the dang thing.

Re:1 million per month?

[Nightspirit]

Really? Because the best buy here in az checked the computers and there is not a single 360 at any best buy in arizona. Walmart and target said the same. So where are these 360s, Japan?

Re:1 million per month?

[MHolmesIV]

I'm not surprised the PS2 is selling more than the 360, it's _half the price_ of the core system.

In fact, I'm impressed that the 360 is making the inroads it's making, if you compare the shares from February to March, the numbers go from 34% of the combined 360/PS2 sales to 42% of the combined sales. And the PS2 absolute numbers are trending down. That's a very good trend for a console that costs twice as much at a minimum.

When you count both XBox and 360 sales, they outperformed the PS2 last month. While you may consider this irrelevant, it's not, since the development tools and libraries on the two boxes are similar, so it's not that much extra work to target both (as a number of games have done, Ghost Recon, for one). In that way, you mitigate the risk of releasing on a new console with the established user base of the old one. That will make companies more likely to support the 360, and more support means more games, more games means more users etc.

Will the PS3 have the same advantages? I don't know. Initial reports from game developers indicate that the development environment is quite different, which requires all new skillsets, and therefore more risk for a company supporting the platform. But that's just initial reports. The toolset may change.