Data Monday: Game Consoles

by June 6, 2011

The current generation of game consoles in people's living rooms not only connects to online gaming but media and services as well. As use of the Internet on these devices continues to grow, it makes sense to know what's happening in the game console market.

  • In 2009, the Nintendo Wii topped 50 million consoles sold worldwide, making it the fast-selling console ever. (source)
  • The Nintendo Wii took 13 days to reach 1 million units sold after being released on November 19, 2006. source)
  • Total worldwide sales of the Nintendo Wii are 86.74M units. source)
  • But sales of the Wii have been falling since late 2009 and continue to drop. source)
  • Microsoft has now sold 55 million Xbox 360 consoles and sales are accelerating. Xbox 360 maintains its lead in the U.S. as the top selling console in 2011. In the first four months of 2011, Xbox 360 has seen a 29 percent year over year increase in sales, which is more than triple the growth of PlayStation 3 and the largest growth of any console on the market. source)
  • By extending the capabilities of the Xbox platform with Kinect and Xbox LIVE, Microsoft has “changed the tail” of the typical console lifecycle, showing dramatic gains in the fifth and sixth years of this generation. (source)
  • Microsoft Kinect took less than 30 days to reach over 2.5 million units sold after being released on November 4, 2010. (source)
  • Microsoft Corp.’s Xbox Live online service broke the $1 billion revenue mark for the first time in 2010. (source)
  • There are now nearly 35 million active Xbox LIVE members worldwide spending an average of almost 60 hours a month on the service. (source)
  • Cumulatively Xbox LIVE members are now logging 2.1 billion entertainment hours a month. (source)
  • One tenth of the Xbox Live users logged into Facebook in the first week of availability. (source)