10 million Xbox consoles sold in Europe

Posted by Mister-X on November 13th, 2009 at 02:51am

In addition to breaking the Xbox Live record earlier today with 2 million users connected to the service at one time, Microsoft has reached another milestone.

The publisher announced that 10 million Xbox 360 consoles have now been sold across Europe, the Middle East and Africa in just four years, making the Xbox 360 the “only console to achieve year-on-year growth across the region this year.”

Microsoft went on to reveal that there are now over 20 million Xbox Live members active worldwide who have downloaded over 1 billion games and entertainment content, doubling the number of movie downloads in the past year.

“Xbox 360 continues to pull ahead of the competition when it comes to delivering on a complete home entertainment experience and we think that Xbox Live currently is about 12 to 18 months ahead of its main rival PlayStation Network when it comes to offering service and content beyond traditional games,” said Martin Olausson, Director of Digital Media Research at Strategy Analytics.

“By introducing innovative new services and content such as Natal, instant streaming of full 1080P HD video, and integrating social media features such as Twitter and Facebook, Xbox will likely attract a wider audience than its rivals and is in a great position to maximize sales in the next few years.”

Microsoft went on to state that the launch of instant streaming HD movies, Facebook, Twitter and Last.fm coming this Tuesday, the 17th of November, will transform Xbox Live into the “largest social network connected to the TV” and strengthen Xbox 360’s “impressive line-up of interactive entertainment services.”

“Reinventing entertainment through, play, watch, connect and share. This is the vision that we have for Xbox 360 and today that vision is the reality for 10 million Xbox owners. European consumers are very discerning and demand a connected entertainment experience,” said Chris Lewis, vice president Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft Europe.

“That’s why we focused on providing content that is right and relevant for them and entertainment beyond just gaming to movies, music and social networking. We have delivered on this promise and next week will bring real innovation into the living room through instant streaming high definition movies, connecting with friends on Facebook and Twitter and a personalised music channel. Together, this represents a real shift in the way people are entertained every day,”

The publisher believes that entertainment has been reinvented with 60% of Xbox consoles now integrated into the family living room. The Xbox customer base has also shifted with 35% of Xbox owners now being women, and 64% are over the age of 25. Microsoft also believes that Project Natal “will create a new category of gaming and entertainment experiences through controller-free gaming that makes Xbox 360 more inclusive and relevant to an even wider audience.”

Tags: europe, microsoft, News, sales, xbox360

Under Uncategorized