November 29th 2011 12:25 pm PT

Xbox 360 records the biggest week in Xbox history

I just got in some great news about Xbox sales over the Holiday weekend that I wanted to share with you.

Here are the details directly from a notice we just sent to press:

Entering the seventh year of its lifecycle, Xbox 360 just closed the biggest sales week in the history of Xbox, selling more than 960,000 consoles in the U.S. during the week of Black Friday.

Microsoft’s retail partners are equally excited about our sales performance this holiday.

“We have seen tremendous excitement from customers for our hot holiday gaming offers,” said Chris Homeister, senior vice president and general manager of Home Entertainment at Best Buy. “Xbox 360 was among the best-sellers at Best Buy this Black Friday, and is a testament to the continued popularity of the gaming category this holiday.”

Sales highlights in the U.S. during the week of Black Friday include:

  • Xbox 360 sold more than 960,000 consoles in the U.S. alone, of which more than 800,000 were sold within a period of 24 hours – the biggest week of sales in Xbox history. (Source: Internal data)
  • More than 750,000 Kinect for Xbox 360 sensors were sold in the U.S. – standalone and bundled. (Source: Internal data)

# # #

So thank you for being a part of Xbox 360’s continued success.

Xbox 360 By Larry Hryb, Xbox LIVE's Major Nelson

permalink: http://majornelson.com/2011/11/29/xbox-360-records-the-biggest-week-in-xbox-history/

  • Anonymous

    That’s just awesome! Congrats Xbox Team!

  • http://the-time-capsule.com/ B.C. Young

    Wowsa! That’s a whole lot. Quite amazing for a system that is over 6 years old. Great job Microsoft!

  • HaloBanshee Avatar

    Meanwhile in Japan…

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Cameron-Kerlin/1262226213 Cameron Kerlin

      …longtime Japanese developers struggle to remain relevant in a global market as game design moves ever-forward without them.

      • BadManDuke

        Example: Square-Enix, who at one point could easily make waves just by mentioning the words “Final” and “Fantasy” followed by a number. Nowadays, not so much.

        I would dare even say that 99% of Sony’s hits are from Western studios.

  • http://thetjhzone.blogspot.com Tylerh1701

    Jesus, those are some big f****** numbers.

  • http://thetjhzone.blogspot.com Tylerh1701

    Jesus, those are some big f****** numbers.

  • Mike Kessler

    Fail to newegg, who canceled my order for a new Xbox 360.  Their policy clearly states “We do not sell merchandise that we don’t have in-stock.”  They were then listed at full price and in stock the next day.

  • http://twitter.com/fmsantos39 Marcos Santos

    Nice, the Xbox is not dead yet people!!

  • Peter M.

    Kinect is a beast.

  • Dana Robinson

    I bet it’s just everyone replacing their red-ringed consoles that are out of warranty.  Not exactly “new users” :p

    • Anonymous

      The RROD-referencing fanbaby – a slow, plodding creature long thought extinct with the near eradication of RROD years ago – resurfaces to the delight of zoologists the world over.

  • http://www.facebook.com/sberfield Scott Berfield

    WTG Guys!!

  • http://twitter.com/JuanCabrera Juan Cabrera

    Hopefully, the next Kinect will be even bigger with higher resolution in both tracking and recording as well as picture taking!  I don’t care how expensive it is I just can’t wait until I am able to type on a virtual keyboard with Kinect and absolutely NO hiccups!  Keep it up Xbox!!!

  • http://www.unscripted360.com Deacon

    ..that’s a whole lotta sales .. wow.

  • Anonymous

    With all of this success, we can expect a new xbox (720?) for Holiday 2012, right? 

    • http://www.facebook.com/ryster092 Ryan Spooner

      Unlikely. The rumour on the street is that it’ll be announced at E3 next year, and be released in 2013.

      • Anonymous

        My comment was meant to be a joke. 

  • Lee Rayson

    Wow, so major with an outstanding year in sales are microsoft planning a free christmas arcade game to the fans    *wink wink*

  • Brian Simmons

    I wonder how many of those system purchases are people who needed to replace their broken 360.  I love mine, but having bought 4 different machines since launch is a bit ridiculous.

  • http://twitter.com/KCalpha KC

    That’s great, now all we need is some exclusive games to go with it. 

  • http://twitter.com/HCSwatIzBack HC Swat Iz Back

    So why do you think we care?

    Just you money pigs showing off your wealth. 

    • http://www.vega.com Vega – NY Liberal Honey Badger

      A crappy Black Friday sale and a crappy Cyber Monday sale.  

  • http://www.facebook.com/ryster092 Ryan Spooner

    Impressive sales figures, well done. But I agree with “HC Swat Iz Back”… would it have killed you to say the words “thank you” in your press release to the near-million people that bought your product this weekend?

    That said, I’d love to replace my aging Xbox 360 “Premium” with 120gb HDD with one of the new smaller and quieter models, but I just can’t justify it to myself so long as my current console is still working. I think I’ll just hang on until the Xbox “3″ comes out.

  • http://twitter.com/bushmaster2000 bushmaster2000

    I’m one of those 750,000 who bought a Kinect.  The temporary sub $100 price cut was the factor that won me over.  There’s still squat out there that I want to play with it which is why I wasn’t going to drop 150 but for $99 i won’t feel so bad about it not being used often and i’ll check out some of those exercise titles for a change of pace until Mass Effect 3 comes out.

  • Justin Mangino

    Can we just get on with this generation. I think 7 years is more than enough time to make something more impressive. 

  • http://www.facebook.com/bradsaxon Brad Saxon

    Are you happy enough about this to bring 1 vs 100 back for another season?

    • Kyle Conner

      Maybe my 70 year old dad would buy another XBOX…he sold it after 1vs100.

    • BadManDuke

      I really miss that game.

    • http://twitter.com/HashtagLogic uh, hashtag logic

      Major, if you could reply to these comments…
      The transition of 1 vs 100 to Full House Poker was not a smart move in my opinion.
      I’m sure it costed money having 1 vs 100 running for prizes + a live host, but it made the gaming atmosphere + LIVE much more social than Full House could ever do.
      Of course, 1) It is free opposed to Full House. 2) Many people have seen the show, or it is easy to catch on and very casual to be answering questions with a click of a button –> opposed to learning a Card game which is NOT approachable in any way to the family man. 3) Lastly, it included a lot of people! Everyone participated together and every person’s participation mattered! I haven’t tried the ‘events’ in Full House, (just the multi/single game) but I doubt a scale of 10+ people simultaneously would be of effect in poker. This is my take on the (late) change and I know many people agree. 
      In all, maybe on top of LIVE 12 month subscriptions, you can guarantee access to events such as 1 vs 100. Only with the 12 month, will you be able to join in on social events. Just an idea! Thanks.

  • http://twitter.com/HCSwatIzBack HC Swat Iz Back

    Lol he added “thank you” just because I flamed him.

    Sad.

    • http://www.majornelson.com Major Nelson

      I had actually added that before I even read comments…so you win.

  • http://twitter.com/WickedWaffles93 Jeremy Hatajlo

    Here are the top ten “most popular products” online consumers shopped for on Black Friday 2011 provided by PriceGrabber:

    1)Sony PlayStation®3 Slim 160GB Console2)Samsung® UN55D6000 55? LED TV3)Microsoft Xbox 360® 4GB Console with Kinect4)LeapFrog® LeapPad Explorer Learning Tablet5)Canon® EOS Rebel T3 Black SLR Digital Camera Kit6)Apple® iPod Touch® 4th Generation 8GB Black7)Apple MacBook® Pro 13.3? Silver Notebook8)Canon® EOS Rebel T3i Black SLR Digital Camera Kit9)Apple® iPad™ 2 16 GB Wi-Fi Black Tablet10)Nintendo® Black Wii™ Console w/Mario Kart

  • Anonymous

    congrats….Now how about taking that money and making more exclusives for the 360? two exclusives a year and some arcade games is pitiful for a console that sells so well…

    Or how about releasing a new consoles with again, more then two exclusives a year, and leaving all the new comers to the back catalog and kinect shovelware?

    • http://twitter.com/spartannhilator Zak Hayer

      The console simply wont continue to sell so well if that doesnt change, its just not possible…

    • http://twitter.com/damashedavenger kit walker

      who cares if a game is an “exclusive”?  personaly i’d love to play whatever game i think i would enjoy on whichever brand of computer i decided to buy…
      i know, what a hippy right?… 

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_BSF6JOR3SL72ILWMRIXFTAYEOU Bill S

    More like record number of unauthorized account access. Why have so many Xbox Live accounts been compromised in this past month? Microsoft claims “phishing” but there is more then “phishing” going on here. Time for MS to come clean with whats happening. 

    • Anonymous

      look up Fifa 2012 credit card exploit….It’s not microsoft, it’s EA.

      • http://twitter.com/WickedWaffles93 Jeremy Hatajlo

        Still happening on Xbox live.

        • Anonymous

          ya but it’s not xbox live that is being hacked…it’s something to do with EA.

    • http://twitter.com/NoxiousWR Luke

      No that’s just people going around saying “Give me your email adress and password and i’ll get you this and this for free” then they use that account to buy things with peoples credit cards. It’s not ‘hacking’ – it’s mindless idiots who will believe anything and willingly give away their account details which in any case they deserve what they get. 

  • http://www.thinkcomputers.org/ Jack

    Those are insane numbers. The 360 is definitely one of the best consoles ever, it deserves the recognition.

    • http://twitter.com/WickedWaffles93 Jeremy Hatajlo

      Not even close to the best console kid.

      • http://www.thinkcomputers.org/ Jack

        One of the best != the best.

        Also, the order of ‘best’ consoles can vary greatly from person to person.

  • http://www.facebook.com/TriPham1982 Tri Pham

    I thought it said biggest weak.

  • Anonymous

    Congrats, Xbox! Time to slash prices on XBL in half or a tenth! ;-) (I mean it.)

  • http://www.facebook.com/XxMoZMaNxX Matt Watterson

    I’m not surprised at all. i think MW3 will have helped this a little bit though. With all this money they’re making they could  improve the Kinect software, or at least release some better add ons for it. I’m getting fed up with Fitness games now. I bought my Wii for those :/ Wouldn’t mind a bit of a price drop for XBL aswell. Excited for the new Dash update though! 

  • http://twitter.com/xeboards Marcus

    Likely 1.1-1.2 million consoles sold for that entire week Worldwide, nice job! Now go on and think how well you guys could do if you supported EMEAA as much as the U.S ;)

    • http://twitter.com/JimLenoir James Lenoir

      I couldn’t agree more, maybe it’s time they started supported all their other territories (excl. the US) and give us some additional content. At the moment, it’s pretty one-sided.  We pay the same for our live, yet get less content.

    • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_ENN6QR46625J76GLJWGMON5R74 Anthony

      So Microsoft treats you guys the same way Nintendo treats the US?
      :)

      And I bet the reason for that is because Microsoft is mainly a US company, and doesn’t have as much worldwide output as Sony and Nintendo (they have regional subsidiaries in Europe and the US).

  • http://twitter.com/thedarkfenix ian musgrove

    Congrats xbox, well deserved sales, top console with an excellent selection of games and a phenominal online service, member for life

  • http://twitter.com/damashedavenger kit walker

    so to celebrate (and make a million new console owners think we’re awsome), free xboxlive for the month of december!!! *

    *us residents only(obviously!!!)

    but sarcasm aside, why not give the world a christmas present…..   jesus would…

    • http://twitter.com/HerXtheSlayer Mario

      it says they sold a bunch of consoles, not they filed chapter 13 and went completely nuts :)

  • Anonymous

    WOW massive numbers

    I bet MS cant believe even dream in those early days how well the 350 has done, its easy to forget that last gen sony had 75%+ of the market!

  • http://www.ScottBartell.com Scott Bartell

    Wow, that’s awesome! Let’s see… ~1 million consoles x $60/yr each for Xbox Live… yeah, wow.

    • Anonymous

      I just renewed my xbox live gold for $40 right off the dashboard

      • http://www.ScottBartell.com Scott Bartell

        Well I paid like $65… 3 or 4 months ago. Now I’m upset. Damn you Microsoft.

  • http://twitter.com/HerXtheSlayer Mario

    impressive numbers and well deserved :) although I can’t help but wonder what would the results be if Pachter didn’t push out an article stating that we’ll not see a new xbox before 2014 :)

  • http://www.facebook.com/bridges.michael83 Michael Bridges

    it didn’t hurt that best buy was selling the 250GB model with two games for only 200 bucks. thats just giving it away.

  • Anonymous

    Hurray for huge corporations!

  • ElektroDragon

    A lot of these numbers are still from people replacing defective non-Slim consoles.  Case in point, I bought a Gears 3 SE console yesterday because my wife’s old 2008 console has started ejecting discs with them still spinning at thousands of RPM… and disc read errors on startup to boot.

    • http://twitter.com/TwistedxL3G3ND Ulysses Moreno

      I’d like a source for that first statement.

      • Michael Roby

        Oh, but he said “case in point” and followed it with anecdotal evidence. Is that not enough for you?

        • Anonymous

          “a lot of” is not proven by one persons statement, and how would you explain the 700,000 kinects if its all replacement consoles

  • http://twitter.com/GreenMistt Miller

    Nice one. Maybe you’ll now give us something for (MS’s least favourite word) for FREE? Wait no that wont happen. Microsoft.. part with cash? That’s unheard of. All kidding aside (well not really) Those are impressive numbers. After all, we’re just a number to you… not a customer.

  • Robert Allen

    Yep I will be a statistic later today.. buying my 4th Xbox for the house hold today in about say 2-3hrs along with about 5 games so .. Thanks for all the amazing entertainment that your company has brought the xbox live community. 

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