1 Million 360s a Month By Year's End

GameDailyBiz reports that Microsoft plans to have one million 360's produced a month by the end of the year. From the article: "As has been previously reported Xbox 360 production and availability has already been significantly increased in recent weeks. In the period through Microsoft's fiscal year ending in June, the company expects to pump out 2 to 3 times the number of units it did previously. With Sony's PlayStation 3 launching this November across the globe, Microsoft still has a window of opportunity during which it can extend its lead in the next-gen race considerably."

Comments

That's no moon...

[voice_of_all_reason]

It's an XBOX Manufacturing station...

"the company"

[gabebear]

The quote in the abstract is quote misleading. Mr. Lin from the Wistron company said it; Wistron makes some of the 360's for Microsoft.

Smoke And Mirrors

[mikeisme77]

Just ramping up production won't mean more people buying them. Maybe some none sports/FPS games would help things out. Or a game that you can't buy for $10 less on the older generation (might not be as pretty, but it's $10 less and is just as fun). Lower system price would be nice too, as only the early adopters (most of which have their 360 already) are willing to pay $400+ for a system with little original content.

1 million per month?

[Generic Guy]

At one million per month, it sounds like they're going from terrible undersupply to terrible oversupply.

Re:1 million per month?

[rehtonAesoohC]

Why would anyone care? In the consumer driven market, oversupply would mean the cost of an individual unit would decrease. Combine an overage of product with the competition of the PS3, and prices would fall even more. Consumers would be the ones who would make out like bandits here, so why is anyone complaining?

Re:1 million per month?

[brokeninside]

According to NPD March Game Sales Specifics Added, the PS2 is still outselling the XBOX 360:

on the hardware front, it was revealed that the Xbox 360 sold through just under 200,000 copies in North America in March, showing the continued shortages of the console, allegedly now ameliorated. Elsewhere, the PlayStation 2 still led the way with almost 275,000 sales, and the Xbox (just under 85,000) and GameCube (just under 65,000) brought up the rear.

This compares to 160k XBOX 360s sold in Februrary according to February game sales continue slide:

According to industry sources, more than 160,000 Xbox 360s were sold in February. That compares to more than 300,000 PlayStation 2's, more than 170,000 PlayStation Portables, and over 150,000 Nintendo DS units sold during the month of February.

The only really interesting number to me is that almost six months after the launch of the 360, PS2s are still moving off the shelves faster than 360s. But before one reads to much into that, it ought to be recognized that the 360 hasn't been introduced into all markets while the PS2 has pretty much gone into every geographic area where it will be sold. Hence when the March numbers were released, which included Australia for the first time, it wasn't the same comparison as for February. The flip side of that fact, though, is that XBOX sales in existing markets may have declined in March. I don't know how many units were sold in Australia and other new markets that ought to be subtracted from the 200k March figure to compare to the 160k Feb figure.

In any case, better numbers won't really be availible next year. IMO, the key numbers to watch for (assuming Revolution and PS2 launches this fall) will be the Q4 2006 reports. Although, it will be significant if the PS2 continues to outsell the 360 in Q2 and Q3 of 2006.

Re:1 million per month?

[Nightspirit]

Really? Because the best buy here in az checked the computers and there is not a single 360 at any best buy in arizona. Walmart and target said the same. So where are these 360s, Japan?

Re:1 million per month?

[MHolmesIV]

I'm not surprised the PS2 is selling more than the 360, it's _half the price_ of the core system.

In fact, I'm impressed that the 360 is making the inroads it's making, if you compare the shares from February to March, the numbers go from 34% of the combined 360/PS2 sales to 42% of the combined sales. And the PS2 absolute numbers are trending down. That's a very good trend for a console that costs twice as much at a minimum.

When you count both XBox and 360 sales, they outperformed the PS2 last month. While you may consider this irrelevant, it's not, since the development tools and libraries on the two boxes are similar, so it's not that much extra work to target both (as a number of games have done, Ghost Recon, for one). In that way, you mitigate the risk of releasing on a new console with the established user base of the old one. That will make companies more likely to support the 360, and more support means more games, more games means more users etc.

Will the PS3 have the same advantages? I don't know. Initial reports from game developers indicate that the development environment is quite different, which requires all new skillsets, and therefore more risk for a company supporting the platform. But that's just initial reports. The toolset may change.

How many 360's sold to date?

[ZombieRoboNinja]

Increasing the rate of production is all well and good, but how big is the installed base for 360 right now, and how big do they expect it to be by the time PS3 comes out?

I'm especially curious about non-US markets here. Has the 360 been selling ANY units in Japan? Last I heard, the answer was no; what happens if we have the 360 as the runaway winner of this console generation here in the States, but the PS3 or Revolution annihilates it in Japan? It would be kind of a weird dichotomy...

Re:How many 360's sold to date?

[CaymanIslandCarpedie]

Just to clarify, those are basically the number announced for units sold between the launch (Nov 22nd) and Dec 31st '05. We probably won't get another set of reliable numbers until thier next quarterly report.

The numbers above are basically correct (but I think the number was 900k in North America), but just an thought I'd add in the date range that those were for as it could easily be mis-understood to represent more current numbers (which aren't yet available).

Re:Commodity parts == Fast time to market

[mikeisme77]

When you decide to build from commodity parts, you're deciding to sacrifice performance for development speed. Maybe the XBox 360 won't be as good as the PS3, but it will certainly be more available and cheaper than it. Which is the same reason Nintendo's "underpowered" system shouldn't be ignored. They're parts are even more readily available than those in the 360 (with the possible exception of the controllers) so they should be able to roll them out quickly right out of the gate and with some EXCELLENT first party titles. If they can just get Konami, Square Enix, Capcom, et al to fully commit to at least one launch game (or soon after launch) than they may be able to reverse their recent console fortunes.

Re:November?

[Ewan]

You read it, the story was widely reported, but it wasn't true, just another internet rumour.

Sony have committed to a worldwide release in November 2006.

Ewan
ButtonBashers.com

Great! I wonder if anyone will buy them...

[Schezar]

There is no more shortage, and there hasn't been for some time. I see Xbox360s for sale at standard retail price, both the "value" edition and the full one, all over. Anyone who wants one can just go pick one up.

I wonder how many people who don't already have an Xbox360 are actually going to buy one in the near future. Microsoft likes to spin this as though they're producing more units to cover the huge demand and reduce shortages, but said shortages are now nothing more than an illusion. I honestly believe that most everyone who wants one already has one or can't really afford one.

It's funny how, despite all this, I still think that Sony is in a worse position than Microsoft in this round of the console "wars."

They tried to crack Japan's market. And failed.

[ianscot]

MS meant the new box to make inroads in Japan. They did advertise, that's just wrong anecdotal information on your part. The first XBox died in Japan and they wanted to do something to break into that market, no question.

"Since the launch of the original Xbox in 2002, there was one thing that we have consistently said: Microsoft will inevitably succeed in Japan."
-- Takahashi Sensui, Microsoft Japan's Xbox division manager

From this Boston.com article:

"A major part of Xbox's troubles have stemmed from the lack of role-playing games, which are favored here over the shoot-'em-up and action games that tend to be hits in the U.S.

Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft Corp. has made a point of signing on game designers popular in Japan to deliver works like "Final Fantasy XI," set to go on sale later this month."

...Microsoft will also beef up its entertainment downloads catering to Japanese tastes, such as animation trailers, and online gaming available on its online service Xbox Live."

Back in September The Register described MS's problems with Japan the previous time around:

"In a bid to get the product right for Japanese consumers, Microsoft was forced to delay the Xbox's introduction, from December 2001 to February 2002. Hints that it was pondering such a move surfaced way back in March 2001. It did little good, in any case. Microsoft went on to take the axe to its Japanese Xbox workforce in March 2003, before going on to announce a strategic rethink of the Japanese market the following July. Xbox has yet to dent Sony or Nintendo's sales in the country, however.

This time round, Microsoft has made sure it has recruited some of the biggest names in Japanese gaming to the cause. It said it would be showing titles from Square Enix, Genki, Konami, Taito, Namco and others at the Tokyo Games Show."

They clearly wanted to gain ground in Japan. Based on the huge advantage in release dates you'd think they'd have some traction. Right now their sales are last in that market -- behind the GameCube.

Meanwhile I can walk to the nearest GameCube here in Minneapolis and find 360s stacked up on the shelf selling at list price. Huge demand: no. Not here anyway. Some mild interest -- it's the newest thing -- but the kids playing Call of Duty down at Target can't afford to buy the dang thing.

Re:November?

[Ewan]

That's true to an extent, but Sony do have a number of partners who's business plans rely on the Playstation 3 being on sale at the end of this year.

If Sony slip the release back, then the likes of EA, Ubisoft, Konami, etc, will make their displeasure quite clear, and might even stop or scaleback the PS3 developments they're doing - after all, the publishers would much prefer 1 system to have 100% marketshare, it would save them a fortune in development costs, and whether it's Sony of Microsoft doesn't really bother them.

Also, Sony are relying on the PS3 to drive Blu-ray in their battle against HD-DVD, if they were to announce that it wouldn't be out until next year, then you'd have some pissed off movie studios who have committed to Blu-ray movies when there's no mass-market players for it.

Ewan

XBox 360 Production Schedule, 2006

[menace3society]

April: 1
May: 2
June: 3
July: 4
August: 5
September: 7 (kickin' into overdrive)
October: 10
Nover: 12
December: 1,000,000

Good plan.

*Yawn*

[oGMo]

The PS2 sold just shy of a million on opening weekend . Just in Japan. And 10,000,000 in 13 months.

I think we already see how the dominance in this generation is going to play out (unless Sony prices themselves out of the market); Nintendo's not claiming it (by design) and Microsoft can't reach it (by ineptitude)

However, they're still important... having 3 competing consoles last generation was the best thing for customers everywhere; just remember the pre-E3 price wars. Competition keeps companies on their toes.