DARTH GAMER

Microsoft announced today that their XBOX console is still experiencing a strong sales surge, and claim that the system is the only one to see year over year sales growth for both hardware and software.

In April, the Xbox sales sales increase 135 percent, while it was also the number one selling console with a market share of 51 percent. This proves to be big news for Xbox loyalists, as it's the first time the Xbox has ever knocked Sony and their PS2 off the top of the sales pedestal. Sony accounted for 32 percent of the market share, while Nintendo clocked in at 17 percent.

Software has also been a strong factor in Microsoft's announced sales successes, with game title sales up 73 percent over last year.

-Chris Cook


Got this off of the Game Informer site today. Sounds good to me. Being an owner of all 3 systems ( and I play my PS2 and XBOX about the same amount) I think its good if Sony got knocked out of the #1 spot now and then.

Mopower

I just bought one yesterday. I'm expecting a thank you card in the mail from Microsoft.

edstein

I have all three modern consoles plus a dreamcast hooked up and, the xbox gets more time than all the others combined. I am very happy with my xbox. Glad to see the sales going up.

Trigger

Wow... I'd like to see total number sold of all systems. Obviously, this info is only for the US (or the UK or something). Factoring in an Asian market would certainly change the percentages drastically.

joshd2012

The Xbox was $30 cheaper at the time. That and the fact that everyone and their mother owns a PS2, its not surprising. Its like Nintendo pointing out how much they sold after the price drop. That is what a price drop is supposed to do; its supposed to increase sales. Its going to take a lot more than one month of strong sales to knock Sony from the #1 spot.

Decker

Exactly. The PS2 has nearly five times as many units sold worldwide vs the Xbox (70 vs 15 million). I wonder why everyone makes a big deal about a sales spike after a price reduction. I'm certain that the PS2 will sell many more units in May than either the Xbox or GC since it too just dropped in price. I fail to see what the big deal is.

young

it's not a big deal... unless people keep talking about it! er... i guess i'm part of the problem.

on another note, sales of dreamcasts forcast to go up by 1 (i will be purchasing one soon just so i can play shenmue )

The Franchise

Some of the stats in this article are so misleading. 51% marketshare in April makes it sound like they caught up to the PS2 in total user base, not in new concolse sales. Anyway, the numbers are posted below and it is kinda weak that the box outsold the PS2 by only 70K units even though it was $50 cheaper. Now that the price is even again, we'll see what happens.

Posted from Gamespot:

Xbox officially outsells PS2 in US

Citing NPD numbers, Microsoft declares its console had a 51-percent market share in April 2004.
In the time before E3, many analysts were saying that, as a result of its $149 price drop, the Xbox had begun to outsell the PlayStation 2 in the US American Technology Research analyst P.J. McNealy told CBS Marketwatch that Microsoft's console sold 270,000 units during the month, compared to 200,000 PS2s and 100,000 Nintendo GameCubes.

Today, Microsoft echoed McNealy's assertion, announcing that the Xbox was indeed America's top-selling console in April. In a press release, Microsoft claimed the Xbox captured 51 percent of the US console market in the month following the March 30 price drop, with sales up 135 percent by volume compared to 2003. Comparatively, PlayStation 2 sales declined 29 percent to hit a 32-percent share, while the Nintendo GameCube sales dropped 5 percent to a 17-percent market share.

Curiously, Microsoft didn't give specific sales numbers as McNealy did. However, the company did claim all its figures were from NPD, the top American game-market research firm whose studies are the industry standard. Microsoft also cited European data from GfK and ChartTrack, NPD European equivalents, which said the Xbox's market share increased from 23 to 26 percent in April in the UK, France, and Germany combined.

"This marks the first time ever that Sony has been knocked off the leaderboard by another console in this generation," boasted Microsoft's release, which went on to list various notable Xbox events at E3 2004.

However, questions remain about the longevity of the Xbox's rise in sales. When its price dropped to $99 last fall, the GameCube enjoyed a similar boost, also outselling the PlayStation 2 for a short time. Although, some analysts think the Xbox may see a more long-term gain in market share, due to exclusives such as Ninja Gaiden and Halo 2 as well as the recently announced deal to bring Electronic Arts' mega-popular online games to Xbox Live.

darkside

I bought one so I will take full credit for the increase in sales.

DeanoBKN

"Xbox officially outsells PS2 in US"

Oh god. I can hear the XBox fanboys creaming their pants from here

fumanstan

And PS2 fans pretending like they don't care

Galanthas

After 70 million worldwide, I would imagine most won't care. Of course there is always that one fanboy in the corner heh.

CreatureX

It will be interesting to see May and June sales now that the PS2 has dropped its price as well.

Gallant Pig

No "fanboy" wars, or for that matter references, thanks.

Kumar J

X-box is a sad story here in Japan

karnblack

I wonder if either Sony or Microsoft will drop their price further for the holiday season. I'm hoping for $100. Since I broke up with my girlfriend I've been without a PS2, but I'm not missing it much. I still have an Xbox, a Gamecube, a GBA SP, and a PC, but I think there are some PS2 games coming out that I would like to play. Oh well, I'm not holding my breath.

Fanboy

I've been stifled.

Galanthas

Being a tad heavy-handed aren't we? No one is attacking/flaming another poster. As far as I can tell there isn't anything in this thread that is against the guidelines posted here. Nothing saying we can't use that word, besides, of course against another poster. No one in this thread has tried to start a fan*** war. Quite frankly if their is any Fan**** on these forums(which no doubt there is probably a few) they hide there intentions quite well.

Gallant Pig

Galanthas, I wasn't calling out anyone in particular, I'm trying to put out fires before they start, if you have a problem with my moderating, why don't you email me. Thanks.

JM

Big surprise.

I love the Xbox. I never even play my PS2 anymore. It is so nice to have an American console (though it's actually manufactured elsewhere obviously). Finally, the tables are turned with the Xbox, and WE in the U.S. generally get the good games first. Now Japan has to wait on games like we used to in the old days with Sega and Nintendo.

Kumar J

Thats where you are wrong, the games don't sell that well in Japan.We do get releases almost same to US.Ninja Gaiden was here first!But since the Japan people have no interest in American Sports games, XBox is not selling well!Lack of games is the main reason for this failure and the price!It's almosy US$60 for a game!

JM

I never said they did sell well in Japan. I said that Xbox games often come out here (U.S.) first instead of in Japan as was almost always the case with past consoles. Sure, there are exceptions. Also, the games usually only come out a few days earlier here than Japan. Still, the Xbox is an American console with many games designed largely for an American audience. This is refreshing IMO. In the U.S. at least, I don't think there is a lack of good games on the Xbox--quite the contrary, in fact. The problem is that many of these games may not appeal to the Japanese. Let's face it, Japanese gamers are into a lot of stuff Americans aren't (and vice versa).

WOWZY

I would never look at Japan sales as a reference point anyway. Their game tastes and genres are so different it's almost well... (coldchills)

I'm glad I live in the US where we play normal games on our systems.

indy2029

Well, you can call US games "normal" while other cultures would say we're obsessed with violence. Also, many of the U.S. console games are taken from Japan so it's not like the Japanese have little influence on gaming in the U.S. actually they play a huge role in U.S. gaming (PS2, Gamecube, GBA, compared to XBOX).

jw2299

Does normal = American?