February 2010 was a gloomy month indeed for most of the video game industry
With the exception of Microsoft and its Xbox 360 gaming console.
For after being named the ‘most unreliable video game console’ in September 2009 by a Square Trade* study, with a failure rate eight times that of the Nintendo Wii and more than twice that of the Sony PS3, Microsoft’s Xbox 360 is now topping the sales charts.
NPD figures show that Microsoft’s console sold 422,000 units during the month, nearly 25,000 more than the Wii at 397,900, making February 2010 the most successful in the Xbox 360’s history.
Unusually Microsoft has officially responded to the NPD February video games sales results and spoke proudly of its sales busting console, linking their success to the anticipation of Project Natal, also revealing that last month was the most profitable February in the Xbox 360’s history and that it will soon sell its 40 millionth console.
“Thanks to a stellar portfolio of exclusive blockbuster games, a fresh pipeline of new content on Xbox Live and high anticipation for controller-free gaming and entertainment with Project Natal for Xbox 360, I’m pleased to announce we had the biggest February in Xbox 360 history,” Chief Operating Officer, Dennis Durkin said.
“This month’s NPD results are a further proof point to what will be our biggest and best year in Xbox history.”
These NPD figures covering U.S. software and video game console sales during February 2010 paint a gloomy picture for the industry: compared to February 2009.
The gaming industry saw a 15 percent drop in combined sales for software, hardware and peripherals which pulled in some $1.26 billion in revenue. Despite Microsoft’s strong showing, it turned out to be a pretty bad month for gaming consoles, with console sales slumping a hefty 20 percent to $426 million.
“Honestly, I had expected the industry to perform somewhat better this month,” said Anita Frazier, a games analyst at NPD.
The U.S. hardware contest, according to NPD Group from January 31 to Feb. 27, was:
· Nintendo DS – 613,200
· Xbox 360 – 422,000
· Wii – 397,900
· PlayStation 3 – 360,100
· PSP – 133,400
· PlayStation 2 – 101,900
But the big winner of the month was BioShock 2 (which managed to sell some 563,000 units on the Xbox 360, making it the best-selling game title of the month) and the Microsoft platform also enjoyed considerable success in the software charts, capturing four of the other top ten positions.
* SquareTrade, launched in 1999, is an independent warranty provider. The company examined customer-reported failure data on more than 16,000 consoles in putting together the latest report.
Please leave a comment below and tell me if and why you are an XBox 360 fan…
