Xbox 360 Sales Rise, Despite Poor Video Game Sales

By Ryan Fleming July 16, 2010

The June sales figures for the video game industry have been released by the NPD Group, and for the second straight month the sales are down- this time by as much as 6-percent from the same time last year. There is a bright spot though- hardware sales have risen 5-percent, pushed primarily by the release of the new Xbox 360. Accessories are also up 6-percent, driven by the Xbox Live 1600 point card, the top selling accessory of June, for the fourth consecutive month.

According to Business Insider, the Xbox 360 experienced its second largest non-holiday month since September of 2007, when Halo 3 was released. The PS3 also did well, and has increased its hardware sales for 11 consecutive months.

Compared to 2009, the industry is down 9-percent compared to 2009, but the NPD Group’s Anita Frazier is confident that 2010 will still end on a high note.

“Looking at historical seasonality for the industry, total year U.S. revenues (of new physical sales) could come in anywhere between $18 and $21 billion,” Frazier said. “Given the strong slate of content still to come, and the release of the Move and Kinect controllers, which I believe will spark additional interest in gaming, I think we could see the total year new physical retail sales come in at $20B. We’ll also be reporting consumer reported sales of digitally distributed, rental and used games content to provide insight into those non-POS sources of game sales.”

In terms of actual sales figures, the Xbox 360 was the top selling console with 451.7K units sold, the Wii was second with 422.5K consoles sold, and the PS3 sold 304.8K. On the portable side, even with the 3DS looming, the DS killed it with 510.7K units sold, while the PSP sold 121K units.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Ryan Fleming is the Gaming and Cinema Editor for Digital Trends. He joined the DT staff in 2009 after spending time covering…

Gaming

The best video game remakes of all time

Leon parries a chainsaw villager in Resident Evil 4.

There are so many classic games from the past that have become difficult for new players to experience. The farther away in time we get from these games' releases, the more difficult it can get to not only get the game itself but also the extra hardware needed to play them. That alone is a major barrier that turns people away from playing games many consider to be some of the greatest of all time. And that's not even taking into account dated graphics, controls, and mechanics.

Remakes offer a new generation a chance to experience some of the most influential games of the past, as well as give fans of the originals a brand new way to play them all over again. The best remakes take what made a game so great before and modernize it for the current audience without losing that magical spark. It isn't an easy process, but here are the games that managed to pull it off.

Gaming

The best video game consoles for 2024

A PS5 sits on a table.

It's a fantastic time to be a gamer — when it comes to platform choice, there have never been more options available.

You could grab a PlayStation 5 and enjoy its killer lineup of exclusives or dive into the Xbox Series X's deep game library (not to mention the fantastic deal that is Game Pass). Fandoms aside, the race between the two major consoles is closer than you'd think.

Gaming

2023 gaming report card: how did PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo score?

The Xbox Series X and PS5

It's been a long year filled with massive games, but we've finally reached the end of 2023. There's no question that this year will be remembered as one of the all-time best for new releases -- and one of the worst for game creators -- but it's been a whirlwind 12 months for the "big three" console makers. PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo all had pivotal years, though in entirely different ways. While the Nintendo Switch took a victory lap, the PS5 entered an experimental era. The Xbox Series X, on the other hand, finally delivered the suite of exclusives fans had been waiting for ... with mixed results.

To reflect on such an eventful year, we've decided to take on the role of teacher and hand each company a final grade for 2023. We took several factors into account here. Exclusive games are a major component of the final grade, naturally, but we also looked at how well each system maintained its wider ecosystem. That includes supporting services like PS Plus and Game Pass and evaluating how new hardware changed how we play.