News
Xbox 360 UK sales leap 36%
Tim Ingham Mar 18 2008, 1:11pm
Comments (12)
Price drop gives hardware a healthy pre-Easter boost; PS3 sales rise six per cent in same period
Official UK industry monitor ChartTrack has told MCV that Xbox 360 sales have risen 36 per cent since last Friday – when the platform holder sliced the ERP of the console to as little as £159.99.
The rise came in a period where other hardware struggled – with only PS3 enjoying a slight sales rise of six per cent, as every other console on the market dipped. Software sales also dropped week-on-week across the gamut of platforms – including 360.
The 360 jump couldn’t match the whopping 260 per cent rise Microsoft enjoyed after cutting the consoles price for the first time in August, 2007 – when it introduced the Elite model onto the market.
“During week 11, Xbox 360 enjoyed a 36 per cent jump on week 10, which is a nice refreshing uplift for the console” ChartTrack director Dorian Bloch told MCV. “That was just for the Friday and Saturday after the price cut. Microsoft will be especially pleased to see that the overall hardware market was down – that’s every format except PS3, which saw a very slight six per cent rise.
“We need to wait two or three more weeks to see if the 360 sales surge will carry on. I would predict that it will increase again over the Easter period. It’s a bit of an odd year for the industry.
Easter is early, and doesn’t coincide with the end of Q1 – when publishers traditionally release very big games – like it usually does.
“Software sales dipped slightly on 360 despite the rise in hardware sales, but that’s no surprise: the week before saw the release of big titles such as Army Of Two and Bully. And with hardcore games like that, their natural audience like to get their hands on them in their first week.
“The 260 per cent rise Xbox 360 enjoyed in August last year coincided with the introduction of Elite and Bioshock coming onto the market, which obviously gave it a massive boost.”
Microsoft lowered the price of all three Xbox SKUs last Friday.
The estimated retail price (ERP) for its entry-level Arcade SKU dipped to €199.99/£159.99 – a drop of €80/£50.
The mid-price console, Xbox 360 Pro, which includes a 20GB hard drive and one wireless controller, was given a new ERP of €269.99/£199.99 – down from €349.99/£249.99.
And the 120GB Xbox 360 Elite, was priced at €369.99/£259.99 – a saving of €80/£40.
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Comments
“Expected?”
Posted by: Hnbeanz - Mar 18, 2:46pm
Which other retailer who post's on here shifted more Elite than Premium consoles? We sold more Elite with Halo 3, Lost Odyssey and Assassins Creed that were bundles with it for £270 than the Premium sku (same games).
Just wondering is this the trend at the moment across other stores?
“Re: Expected?”
Posted by: Tomo - Mar 18, 4:16pm
Dear Chart Track
you forgot to mention that PS3 still outsold X Box 360!
Tomo
“Re: Expected?”
Posted by: Wozza - Mar 18, 4:28pm
PS3 will need a price-cut or the gap will widen.
“Re: Expected?”
Posted by: Tomo - Mar 18, 5:18pm
Scratch that sorry, that was for last month so should not be counted and march stats have not been released yet.
“Re: Expected?”
Posted: Mar 18, 5:24pm
@4
And even so, ChartTrack was discussing how the recent price cuts have affected 360 sales. As they're not fanboy cretins like most of you, why would they feel urged to bring up PS3 sales in that conversation?
“PS3 still beats the x360 in UK”
Posted by: wasim - Mar 18, 6:06pm
PS3 has beaten x360 in HW sales in January (UK).
PS3 sales jumped 200% after the HD DVD's demise
PS3 sales also rose 6% during x360's price cut week so pS3 still went on to beat x360 in terms of sales
“Re: PS3 still beats the x360 in UK”
Posted by: Wozza - Mar 18, 7:48pm
Just shutup already, no really, who gives a flying fok about sales.
“Re: PS3 still beats the x360 in UK”
Posted by: SvenOf9 - Mar 18, 9:29pm
Have to point out theres no PS3 hardware kicking around as we appear to be having to wait for the GT bundle to hit lol
“Re: PS3 still beats the x360 in UK”
Posted by: Dark Blue - Mar 18, 10:32pm
It's a pity that the 360 is like mechano, you get the basic then you're hands never out of your pocket getting the add-ons, there's more flavours of Xbox than ice cream :-)
“Re: PS3 still beats the x360 in UK”
Posted by: Pantythief - Mar 19, 9:17am
@ 2, 6, 8
Not sure if you guys noticed but the title of this news thread is 'Xbox 360 UK sales leap 36%'
I'm confused by your comments?!
“Re: PS3 still beats the x360 in UK”
Posted by: flakmagnet - Mar 19, 9:32am
@Dark Blue:
Come on, whilst that's the case, it can't be said that M$ Are the only ones doing it. Only 2 years in and this generation is littered with more SKUs than the last, there's the three different types of xbox, plus some with and without HDMI sockets, then there are all the different variants of the PS3, different sizes of harddrive, some have backwards compatability, some don't. The only one that is consistent so far is the wii, and I'm sure the'll be something out sooner rather than later to help muddy the waters a bit.
“Re: PS3 still beats the x360 in UK”
Posted by: Jon - Mar 19, 12:27pm
Yup, the DVD player version that has been mentioned :p