As we were sifting through the chart info from Chart Track we came across the news that Microsoft’s Xbox 360 relaunch has been the most successful redesign in sales terms.
A quote from Chart Track’s website states that:
Microsoft’s new and improved, slimmer XBox 360 console, the XBox 360 250GB (or XBox 360 S) achieves the biggest launch in the UK for a “revised” home console, surpassing the launches of both PS2 Slim and PS3 Slim and recording over two days around the same as the original Xbox 360’s launch sales total back in week 48 2005.
Which might account for the strong showing of some of the console’s exclusives in this week’s charts.
From a personal perspective, I really like the redesign. It’s the first console redesign which I think has actually improved upon the original. Can I justify buying one while my slightly curved beige box is still functioning? No, as much as I like the design it’s a bit daft to buy a console just for a new shape and a bit more power in the USB slot, isn’t it?
Congratulations to Microsoft though, who seem to have tapped a market with much deeper pockets than me.
stonyk
wouldn’t mind getting my hands on one of these, but I can’t afford it either. Or the £40 a year to play on line. Maybe next year and a few more exclusives later will convince me.
Interestingly, this high rise in sales might point towards a large number buying Natal/connect as well. I wouldn’t be suprised if that started to sell loads as well.
djhsecondnature
Not really that surprising though is it.
The number of gamers now compared to when the PS2 Slim released has shot up.
The PS3 Slim released during a far more difficult financial climate than now and was more expensive.
Erroneus
It’s a decent console and finally silent, as long you are not using the DVD-drive. But it’s still disappointing that it doesn’t come with a HDMI cable, rechargeable battery for the controller and a charge cable. Also the 802.11n is the cheap version, meaning it doesn’t have support for 5GHz 802.11n networks, it’s no deal breaker though.
scaramanga1973
I think the HDD may have been the major driver both in new sales and people upgrading.
Pemberton_
Never had a 360…but I’ve been thinking about it for a while now. Hell, I don’t even know what games I’d buy for it…
Hmm.
Supertaxman
Gutted that I bought a 360 almost exactly a year ago, and have hardly used it. Really should have waited out for this, especially because of the free wi-fi. Ah wells, who was I to know?
Charmed_Fanatic
Was probably everyone fixing there old 360’s
hazelam
so now ms realise there are people outside the us?
if the sales drop off again they’ll go back to pretending we don’t exist. :)
Quinlank
Seems most of the sales in those impressive numbers are for the discounted older models of the machine, the new version accounted for something like 40 percent of the total sales or something as I read. Wonder if anything will really have changed by the time stocks of the old machine dry up in a couple of months.
Still, must say I’ve found it bizarre the number of people with Xboxes who already have a huge HDD and wireless adapter who are desperate to sell their console to get one of these hideous little black numbers. Then of course there’s the issue of how they’ll get their data from their old HDD, which requires some 20 quid transfer kit to accomplish, but if they’ve traded in their console, how do they get the data off it?
I don’t like to needlessly insult people, but the irresponsibility of spending so much money on pretty much nothing like that in this climate seems staggering to me.
colossalblue
How is it irresponsible for people to spend their own money? Actually it’s far from it, people spending their own money at GAME on a new 360 means that those counter staff in GAME are slightly less likely to be laid off this month. That effect ripples through the entire manufacture and marketing inustries behind the sale too.
It would be more globally irresponsible to /not/ spend money (providing you have money to spend) in this climate.
Dirkpitt39
That almost all those sales are to existing Xbox owners replacing old models and purely because the old model was so rubbish in terms of reliability.
They aren’t growing the business in terms of users, only in terms of consoles… I’m sure they will try and spin it otherwise, but it must be worrying times, what with Kinect turning into a train-wreck.