Xbox 360 Takes the No. 1 Console Spot in the U.S. – Again

Xbox 360 is on a serious roll.

Today, Microsoft announced that the Xbox 360 continued its reign over its competitors in September and has now sold more units in the U.S. than any other console for 15 of the past 16 months. The popular digital entertainment system is now poised to finish 2011 as the best-selling console. The news follows closely on the heels of our announcement last week that nearly 40 world-leading TV and entertainment providers, including Bravo, Comcast, HBO, Syfy, Verizon FiOS in the U.S., BBC in the UK, Rogers in Canada, Telefónica in Spain and Televisa in Mexico and many others, will begin providing live TV and video-on-demand experiences via Xbox 360 this holiday season.

The massively popular Kinect system also continues to gain momentum. By this holiday season, the Kinect’s portfolio of games will grow to 75 titles – four times larger than last holiday season.

September 2011 highlights from The NPD Group, an independent market research firm that tracks the digital entertainment industry, include:

· Holding 42 percent share of the overall current-generation console market, Xbox 360 sold 438,000 units in September, maintaining the number-one console spot in the U.S. for 2011. This marks the seventh consecutive month Xbox 360 has had more than 40 percent of the current-generation console market share.

· Total retail spend on the Xbox 360 platform in September (hardware, software and accessories) reached $534 million, the most for any console in the U.S. and two times larger than the nearest competitor.

· During the month of September, Xbox 360 held six of the top 10 console game titles, including: “Gears of War 3,” “Madden NFL 12,” “Dead Island,” “FIFA Soccer 12,” “NHL 12” and “Deus EX: Human Revolution.”

And, according to Microsoft’s internal data, sales of “Gears of War 3,” which launched on September 20th, soared past three million copies worldwide in the first week, pushing the “Gears of War” franchise beyond $1 billion dollars in lifetime sales.

The month of October is packed with exclusive Xbox 360 title launches, including “Forza Motorsport 4” and “Kinectimals Now with Bears!” launching earlier this week and “Dance Central 2” and “Kinect Sports: Season Two” available on Oct. 25th. Next month, “Kinect: Disneyland Adventures” and “Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary” hit the stores on Nov. 15th.

Posted by Jeff Meisner
Editor, The Official Microsoft Blog

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