Xbox 360 Ειδήσεις {News Topic}

Narayan · 8 Μαΐου 2006

Microsoft Updates Shipment Numbers: 3.3 million Xbox 360s Have Shipped

Dean Takahashi, 03:27 PM in Dean Takahashi, Gaming, Xbox

I attended an engineering speech by Nick Baker, the director of Xbox Console Design Architecture. He's one of the top chip architects on the Xbox 360's chips. Most of the chat was deep in the woods. But one of his comments was startling. He said that Microsoft had now sold 3.3 million consoles worldwide. Microsoft PR confirmed that number to me just now.

What's interesting is that Microsoft said in its earnings statement that it had shipped 1.75 million consoles by March 31. Because of its rough start in manufacturing, it took 4.5 months to reach that number. The original goal had been 3 million units in the first 90 days, but the manufacturing glitches scotched that goal. Now it looks like Microsoft is making up for lost time.

In April, Microsoft said it had an "inventory surge." Celestica, its third contract manufacturer, has ramped up its factory. So it seems that Microsoft has managed to ship many more units in the month of April to get to the number that Baker said. I believe the 3.3 million is the number sold through, not shipped in. In any case, both of those numbers shouldn't be that far apart because the 360s are still flying off the shelves.

Microsoft's goal is 4.5 million to 5.5 million units by June 30. That means to hit the midpoint, it needs to ship and sell 1.7 million more consoles in the next two months. (Microsoft updated that number on the earnings call and said it would hit 5.0 million to 5.5 million units) That's a pretty fast rate of production. That's what it needs to get a sizable head start on Sony and Nintendo.

Baker said there are 27 titles out. About 3.7 games have sold per console. And 2.9 accessories per console. And half the consoles are connected to Xbox Live. By the end of the year, Microsoft expects to have 160 games in the market.