Xbox 360 is lone bright spot in bad year for video game industry

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 13 Jan 2012 11:26 User comments (8)

According to the latest NPD figures, the Xbox 360 was the lone bright spot for the video game industry in 2011.

Overall U.S. retail sales fell 8 percent year-over-year, while Microsoft's sales grew. Revenue for Microsoft came to $6.7 billion, up from $6.2 billion in 2010.

$4.6 billion of that figure came from software and accessories with the rest from hardware sales. Kinect sales were through the roof, reaching 18 million worldwide.

While they did not disclose the exact figures, NPD's Anita Frazier says the Wii and PS3 were "neck and neck for second place."

Overall, total retail sales fell to $17.02 billion, non-PC hardware fell 11 percent to $5.58 billion and non-PC software fell 6 percent to $8.83 billion. Accessories saw the biggest slide, down just over 11 percent to $2.61 billion.

Tags: Xbox 360 NPD gaming Consoles

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8 user comments

114.1.2012 01:45

KillerBug

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AfterDawn Addict

Sony did everything they could to kill PS3 sales...looks like they had some success. I guess that qualifies as a victory?

214.1.2012 01:59

llongtheD

Inactive

Lone bright spot????? Didn't Call of duty MW3 have sales of a billion dollars in just over two weeks?? I guess the legislators pushing SOPA can use this slanted information to fuel the debate as well. It certainly couldn't be due to a downturn in the economy.

This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 14 Jan 2012 @ 2:01

314.1.2012 05:06

KillerBug

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Yeah...making a billion bucks off of a DLC may have been a bright spot on a profits statement...but it was a dark cloud over the industry.

You might as well claim that a murder was a good thing just because the killer got away with lots of money.

414.1.2012 05:30

llongtheD

Inactive

Originally posted by KillerBug:
Yeah...making a billion bucks off of a DLC may have been a bright spot on a profits statement...but it was a dark cloud over the industry.

You might as well claim that a murder was a good thing just because the killer got away with lots of money.

Modern warfare 3 was downloadable content? The disc sales were a billion for 16 days. I wasn't claiming anything by the way, other than stats like this get used to claim the industry is being driven under by piracy.

514.1.2012 07:14

KillerBug

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Originally posted by llongtheD:

Originally posted by KillerBug:
Yeah...making a billion bucks off of a DLC may have been a bright spot on a profits statement...but it was a dark cloud over the industry.

You might as well claim that a murder was a good thing just because the killer got away with lots of money.
Modern warfare 3 was downloadable content? The disc sales were a billion for 16 days. I wasn't claiming anything by the way, other than stats like this get used to claim the industry is being driven under by piracy.

Not downloadable...but not a new game; it was nothing but a map pack for MW2. They knew people would pay $60 for it so they threw together a paper-thin plot and sold it as a new game when it was only worth about $10.

614.1.2012 11:50

cyprusrom

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Quote:
$4.6 billion of that figure came from software and accessories with the rest from hardware sales. Kinect sales were through the rood, reaching 18 million worldwide.

Roof?

714.1.2012 13:55

dab0ne

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Senior Member

Those figures aren't too bad and I'm willing to bet that people aren't buying new systems because they know next gen consoles are either coming soon (Wii U) or will be announced soon (Xbox 720/PS4). This could explain the boost in Kinect sales. The smart thing to do is wait for the next gen stuff to be released then buy the 360, Wii, or PS3 when they are much cheaper. Also they only seem to be talking about home consoles. The 3DS started to pick up momentum for Nintendo towards the end of the year but they didn't mention that in the article.

815.1.2012 21:17

llongtheD

Inactive

Originally posted by KillerBug:

Originally posted by llongtheD:

Originally posted by KillerBug:
Yeah...making a billion bucks off of a DLC may have been a bright spot on a profits statement...but it was a dark cloud over the industry.

You might as well claim that a murder was a good thing just because the killer got away with lots of money.
Modern warfare 3 was downloadable content? The disc sales were a billion for 16 days. I wasn't claiming anything by the way, other than stats like this get used to claim the industry is being driven under by piracy.
Not downloadable...but not a new game; it was nothing but a map pack for MW2. They knew people would pay $60 for it so they threw together a paper-thin plot and sold it as a new game when it was only worth about $10.

Have to agree with you on that.

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Xbox 360 is lone bright spot in bad year for video game industry

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