360: 10.4 mil sold/shipped, also IPTV

syndalis

[quote=Joystiq]Microsoft is expected to announce Sunday night that it has sold 10.4 million Xbox 360 units, actually making good on their promise to surpass 10 million by the end of 2006, according to San Jose Mercury News' Dean Takahashi. In addition, Robbie Bach and Bill Gates are to announce that Xbox 360 will be able to act as a set-top box for Internet Protocol Television (IPTV).

As the video marketplace is doing surprisingly well, surpassing other video-on-demand services, offering television as well sounds like a natural progression. However, we're not looking forward to leaving a heat-loving console on continuously, nor does a 20GB HDD sound ideal for any DVR features including in IPTV. Perhaps the announcement will coincide with a new Xbox 360 model and larger HDD?

Bach and Gates are expected to make the announcement at the Consumer Electronics Show Sunday night. Official NPD figures for console hardware sales should be revealed January 11.

[Update 1: As many of you have pointed out, the Xbox 360 is only noisy when the disc drive is running. I apologize for the confusion but stand by my overheating statement.]

[Update 2: The article has been taken down. It was dated for January 7; was it leaked a bit too early? Also, many are opining in the comments that the 10.4 million figure is "shipped" and not "sold." We'll know the wording chosen by Microsoft on Sunday and the official NPD numbers within the week.][/quote]

Considering how briskly 360s have been selling, even if it is a shipped number, that means they sold over 9 mil before the end of the year, which is pretty damn good.

Ranced

Yea, it's probably shipped.

Double digits yo.

Cornell002

It kinda irks me that later models are gonna be better than mine

LordNibbler

Cornell002 wrote:

It kinda irks me that later models are gonna be better than mine

Totally...I just got one like two days ago. And I need a damn Tv tuner cause I'm working when all my shows are on sometimes!

corin7

Cornell002 wrote:

It kinda irks me that later models are gonna be better than mine

It has been that way for pretty much every console ever. The cost of early adopting. But man looking back at the last year of gaming I would do it all again. 2006 has probably been my favorite year of gaming. 90% of that took place on the 360 with people from these boards. Good times.

syndalis

Later models are always cooler/smaller/something over the prior ones.

As it stands, that whole "nicer" 360 with HDMI is still nothing more than a rumor. Six months ago a motherboard with the HDMI port in a completely different place surfaced via dark pictures on engadget, and was a hoax. Maybe it will change on Sunday night, maybe not, but the system you currently have has been serving you fine thus far.

deadonthestreet

syndalis wrote:

Considering how briskly 360s have been selling, even if it is a shipped number, that means they sold over 9 mil before the end of the year, which is pretty damn good.

I'm going to question that, because there are at least 15 or 20 unsold 360s in every major store around here. I mean there are more 360s in stores than PS2s. It has been the same way all through the Christmas season. The things aren't moving quite as fast as you seem to think, I don't believe.

When you factor in the units on store shelves in the US, and the million or so in Japan and Europe, with 10.5 million shipped, I'd put the number closer to 8.5 than 9 million.

Not a huge difference, but I think an important one.

Threepio

I won't be completely bitter if an HDMI 360 comes out.




But I'll be pretty fucking close. Note to CE companies: Please don't fuck your early adopters over, we love you, don't let's fight, mmkay?

syndalis

deadonthestreet wrote:

but I think an important one.

Important why?

Anywho, I should note that on the Wii launch day there were 40+ Wiis in these same stores you are seeing 15-20 360s in, and they only managed to sell around a million in America over the holidays, with multiple shipments following the heels of the first.

There are not millions of 360s lying dormant on the shelves. Japan has a very limited number of 360s on the shelf for obvious reasons, and Europe is selling as well.

theclam

deadonthestreet wrote:

syndalis wrote:

Considering how briskly 360s have been selling, even if it is a shipped number, that means they sold over 9 mil before the end of the year, which is pretty damn good.

I'm going to question that, because there are at least 15 or 20 unsold 360s in every major store around here. I mean there are more 360s in stores than PS2s. It has been the same way all through the Christmas season. The things aren't moving quite as fast as you seem to think, I don't believe.

Based on my experience as a retail employee (EBStop), this is true. We're totally out of new PS2s, but we've never had fewer than a dozen 360s at a time throughout the whole holiday season. We get resupplied very quickly after we sell some.

That's not to say that they aren't selling well, however. I wouldn't be surprised if the sales numbers turn out to be high, because the PS3 is too expensive and the Wii is too hard to find.

Couscous

deadonthestreet wrote:

syndalis wrote:

Considering how briskly 360s have been selling, even if it is a shipped number, that means they sold over 9 mil before the end of the year, which is pretty damn good.

I'm going to question that, because there are at least 15 or 20 unsold 360s in every major store around here. I mean there are more 360s in stores than PS2s. It has been the same way all through the Christmas season. The things aren't moving quite as fast as you seem to think, I don't believe.

How do you know that isn't do to the fact that they can be quickly resupplied now? The PS3 being unsold at places is considered notable because there is still a very limited supply of PS3s. If Microsoft is quickly restocking the 360s, then seeing unsold 360s shouldn't unusual.

deadonthestreet

syndalis wrote:

deadonthestreet wrote:

but I think an important one.

Important why?

Anywho, I should note that on the Wii launch day there were 40+ Wiis in these same stores you are seeing 15-20 360s in, and they only managed to sell around a million in America over the holidays, with multiple shipments following the heels of the first.

There are not millions of 360s lying dormant on the shelves. Japan has a very limited number of 360s on the shelf for obvious reasons, and Europe is selling as well.

Well I think it is important because of the numbers that are sitting on shelves. It is a bigger difference between shipped and sold.

I think $400 is a little too high for mass market penetration right now.

syndalis

deadonthestreet wrote:

syndalis wrote:

deadonthestreet wrote:

but I think an important one.

Important why?

Anywho, I should note that on the Wii launch day there were 40+ Wiis in these same stores you are seeing 15-20 360s in, and they only managed to sell around a million in America over the holidays, with multiple shipments following the heels of the first.

There are not millions of 360s lying dormant on the shelves. Japan has a very limited number of 360s on the shelf for obvious reasons, and Europe is selling as well.

Well I think it is important because of the numbers that are sitting on shelves. It is a bigger difference between shipped and sold.

I think $400 is a little too high for mass market penetration right now.

And yet, we are on the threshold of half of the original xbox's userbase, without a pricedrop and with at least two million units sold over november and december alone.

I agree that the big, huge push into the market won't happen until a price drop or two (just like the PS2 before it), but Microsoft is in a very good place right now.

Terrorbyte

As the video marketplace is doing surprisingly well

Compared to, like, the abomination that is Amazon Unbox. I actually like the video download service (though pairing HD feature-length content with a measly 20GB hard drive is retarded), but it's anemic compared to iTMS sales. Heck, Comcast's OnDemand service probably rips it a new one, too.

The 360 is a great game console, but trying to parade it around as this huge multimedia success is kind of embarrassing for all involved.

APZonerunner

theclam wrote:

deadonthestreet wrote:

syndalis wrote:

Considering how briskly 360s have been selling, even if it is a shipped number, that means they sold over 9 mil before the end of the year, which is pretty damn good.

I'm going to question that, because there are at least 15 or 20 unsold 360s in every major store around here. I mean there are more 360s in stores than PS2s. It has been the same way all through the Christmas season. The things aren't moving quite as fast as you seem to think, I don't believe.

Based on my experience as a retail employee (EBStop), this is true. We're totally out of new PS2s, but we've never had fewer than a dozen 360s at a time throughout the whole holiday season. We get resupplied very quickly after we sell some.

That's not to say that they aren't selling well, however. I wouldn't be surprised if the sales numbers turn out to be high, because the PS3 is too expensive and the Wii is too hard to find.

Based on my UK Retail Experience (GAME), I've found the opposite. 360s have been fucking flying off the shelves like crazy; I've been very shocked. There's an increasing "Fuck Sony" attitude coming on to people in this country, and most, from what I've seen, are adopting 360.

Only thing that's beens selling faster (in my store) over Christmas is DS - though that's been hindered by stock shortages.

Freezie KO

While my anecdotal evidence suggests that there are still quite a bit of 360s on shelves, it wouldn't surprise me to see them pass the 10 million mark soon if they already haven't.

Sony is really offering very little to the average consumer over what MS is doing for less money. For shooters, realistic racers, and other testosterone genres, Microsoft is as good a bet as Sony, and they have better word of mouth at the moment. And, of course, there's the impending Halo 3. I still don't think they'll have a chance at total #1 marketshare just because they only compete in 2/3 regions.

Even their other genres are picking up though. With a possible SF4 (probably multiplatform like most titles nowadays) and the new Treasure shooter, even I might pick one of these things up. By the time a Street Fighter 4 drops, I think a 360 might be a reasonable price for what it offers me.

elkatas

syndalis wrote:

And yet, we are on the threshold of half of the original xbox's userbase...

If I remember correctly, original Xbox also sold/shipped 10 million units during its first year. Didn't really help. Plus if you calculate official sales numbers, current numbers are around 8.13 million units (NPD + Media Create + European charts).

HtR-Laser

Off-topic:

I just got a nerdrection because my brain concocted its own acronym for what IPTV meant. For some reason I decided that it stood for "Intense Picture TV" and that finally my dream of superbright televisions that can display even sunlight at appropriate brightness for ultimate realism came true.

Sanius

Chances are they haven't reached the 10 million mark, but it's safe to assume they went above, say, 8.5 million, which I guess is decent. I'm curious to see how well they do this year, however.

Kewop Decam

Sanius wrote:

Chances are they haven't reached the 10 million mark, but it's safe to assume they went above, say, 8.5 million, which I guess is decent. I'm curious to see how well they do this year, however.

Yea, their biggest thing that's not Halo has already dropped. I think Halo will psh like 1.5 more systems, but that's just me talking out my ass.

Drez

I heard the Zephyr is going to be smaller than the head of a pin.

ToadTheMushroom

Are these units sold or units shipped?

As far as I know Microsoft didn't lie about this kind of thing and were open with number sold. 10 million wouldnt surprise me at all, especially riding a tremendous holiday season from people who got it for Gears (a lot) and people who couldnt get a PS3/Wii.

darleysam

Kewop Decam wrote:

Sanius wrote:

Chances are they haven't reached the 10 million mark, but it's safe to assume they went above, say, 8.5 million, which I guess is decent. I'm curious to see how well they do this year, however.

Yea, their biggest thing that's not Halo has already dropped. I think Halo will psh like 1.5 more systems, but that's just me talking out my ass.

judging by the number of outraged complaints that the new Halo 2 maps would be 360-exclusive, there's still a number of Halo fans who don't own 360s yet. I imagine 3 will rectify this, somewhat.

bruin

ToadTheMushroom wrote:

Are these units sold or units shipped?

As far as I know Microsoft didn't lie about this kind of thing and were open with number sold. 10 million wouldnt surprise me at all, especially riding a tremendous holiday season from people who got it for Gears (a lot) and people who couldnt get a PS3/Wii.

We don't know yet, we'll have to wait for CES. I think they'll say shipped though.

fragglefart

APZonerunner wrote:

theclam wrote:

deadonthestreet wrote:

syndalis wrote:

Considering how briskly 360s have been selling, even if it is a shipped number, that means they sold over 9 mil before the end of the year, which is pretty damn good.

I'm going to question that, because there are at least 15 or 20 unsold 360s in every major store around here. I mean there are more 360s in stores than PS2s. It has been the same way all through the Christmas season. The things aren't moving quite as fast as you seem to think, I don't believe.

Based on my experience as a retail employee (EBStop), this is true. We're totally out of new PS2s, but we've never had fewer than a dozen 360s at a time throughout the whole holiday season. We get resupplied very quickly after we sell some.

That's not to say that they aren't selling well, however. I wouldn't be surprised if the sales numbers turn out to be high, because the PS3 is too expensive and the Wii is too hard to find.

Based on my UK Retail Experience (GAME), I've found the opposite. 360s have been fucking flying off the shelves like crazy; I've been very shocked. There's an increasing "Fuck Sony" attitude coming on to people in this country, and most, from what I've seen, are adopting 360.

Only thing that's beens selling faster (in my store) over Christmas is DS - though that's been hindered by stock shortages.

Yeah, understandably in the UK the situation is different to the US, the "fuck Sony" thing is generating many 360 sales, and a lot of interest in the direction of the 360 or Wii, despite the PS2 still selling an absolute tonne of units. People are generally looking towards the next gen. Loads of my mates have a 360 or are getting one now. Whereas last gen everyone was all over the PS2. Sony launching so late in Europe is going to bite them in the ass, especially when people who don't scour the internet for information see the price. As it is unconfirmed (although we say generally £425-£450 is a safe enough bet) most websites and stores which even have a "register your interest in PS3" section do not even disclose the price, while the 360 sections have massive discounts and bundles right across the board. Is has a great buzz about it. Mind you, so does the Wii; the Wii sections are generally all "sold out see ya later!" And again, as has been said, when Halo 3 ships we are going to see a lot more 360 sales, as well as whenever a serious price drop has been announced (although, in the UK we already have money off and some crazy multiple free-game offers).

TL; DR - I think MS should have cruised through 10 million units by now.

JWFokker

So what does IPTV stand for? iPorn Televison? Because that would be some hot shit.

syndalis

JWFokker wrote:

So what does IPTV stand for? iPorn Televison? Because that would be some hot shit.

IP Television, or Internet Protocol TV.

Television,t hat can have free or fee based channels, that use your internet bandwidth to deliver the content.

Essentially, competition for the cable industry.

Terrorbyte

syndalis wrote:

JWFokker wrote:

So what does IPTV stand for? iPorn Televison? Because that would be some hot shit.

IP Television, or Internet Protocol TV.

Television,t hat can have free or fee based channels, that use your internet bandwidth to deliver the content.

Essentially, competition for the cable industry.

WebTV 2.0

Æthelred

Surely streaming TV content is pretty shit over most peoples' connections?

Terrorbyte

Æthelred wrote:

Surely streaming TV content is pretty shit over most peoples' connections?

Nah, but it is prone to packet loss and delay if your connection isn't fast enough. Right now, there are too few people seriously using IPTV to figure out if this thing can really scale.

I mean, the long term benefits are nice, what with all the convergence and junk. It's just that pushing massive, live HD content over broadband connections isn't the easiest thing to do. I don't expect IPTV to have any kind of impact until FiOS and similar services are more widespread.

Essentially, competition for the cable industry.

I find this particularly amusing, since the cable industry will just fuck you in the other end with their broadband access fees and services.

syndalis

Terrorbyte wrote:

Æthelred wrote:

Surely streaming TV content is pretty shit over most peoples' connections?

Nah, but it is prone to packet loss and delay if your connection isn't fast enough. Right now, there are too few people seriously using IPTV to figure out if this thing can really scale.

I mean, the long term benefits are nice, what with all the convergence and junk. It's just that pushing massive, live HD content over broadband connections isn't the easiest thing to do. I don't expect IPTV to have any kind of impact until FiOS and similar services are more widespread.

Essentially, competition for the cable industry.

I find this particularly amusing, since the cable industry will just fuck you in the other end with their broadband access fees and services.

And cause the masses to flock to DSL and the eventual FIOS in retaliation?

They have competition on the internet front. Better to get paid by these folks for their bandwidth then not get paid at all.

You are right; HD channels are not a reality right now. But HD rentals / downloads, along with SD channels (like the cable lineup) would be welcome.

Caswynben

Cornell002 wrote:

It kinda irks me that later models are gonna be better than mine

Microsoft is the new Nintendo!

deadonthestreet

Caswynben wrote:

Cornell002 wrote:

It kinda irks me that later models are gonna be better than mine

Microsoft is the new Nintendo!

There is a huge difference between a $130 handheld and a $400 console.

Karf

Caswynben wrote:

Cornell002 wrote:

It kinda irks me that later models are gonna be better than mine

Microsoft is the new Nintendo!

Sony is also the new Nintendo!

Man, I wish I had a PSone and PStwo.

Terrorbyte

You are right; HD channels are not a reality right now. But HD rentals / downloads, along with SD channels (like the cable lineup) would be welcome.

Eh. Anyone with the disposable income for a 360 probably already has cable or satellite or whatever. IPTV is an underdeveloped, unproven technology making tiny steps in a huge, saturated market that CAN push live HD content and CAN offer on-demand HD movies and junk. And, considering that HD is a primary selling point for the 360, IPTV feels like a troublesome fit.

Accualt

Threepio wrote:

I won't be completely bitter if an HDMI 360 comes out.




But I'll be pretty fucking close. Note to CE companies: Please don't fuck your early adopters over, we love you, don't let's fight, mmkay?

Adding HDMI doesn't fuck you over in the least. Seriously, wtf, you can still do 1080p with current 360s and digital audio through an optic cable. I want to complain about a potential 120gb HDD being packaged instead of my 20gb but I didn't bitch when Sony added a built-in modem to the PS2 redesign so I won't bitch now, either.

thunderclump

If you didn't think the old 360 was worth the money you paid for it, given that you knew the features it had, then you are a fool easily parted with his money.

Hepecarne

The fact that people that paid $400 on launch day got a system that still sales for $400 over a year later is more then enough loyalty to early adopters. Shit this is consumer electronics, not buying property. Things get upgraded and cheaper, otherwise we'd still be paying $300 for NESes (which went through several revisions itself).

Besides, as people have noted the only thing thats not upgradable is the HDMI. Assuming you have a 1080p television, your rich ass can afford a second 360.

legion

As long as the new larger HD can be bought at a reasonable price, the new revision won't bother me in the least. But at $129.99, the current 20GB HD isn't exactly what I'd call reasonable. If the new one can offer 6 times that size at a similar cost though, I won't complain.

An easy HD migration tool would be nice too, so getting files and marketplace downloads from the old HD to the new one isn't a total pain in the ass, if not impossible.

ToadTheMushroom

deadonthestreet wrote:

Caswynben wrote:

Cornell002 wrote:

It kinda irks me that later models are gonna be better than mine

Microsoft is the new Nintendo!

There is a huge difference between a $130 handheld and a $400 console.

Not at all.

If you mean if the Ds say is upgraded due to the low price more people are willing to upgrade, then sure. But home consoles are a lot more monolithic in releases, one every 5 years. I wouldnt be surprised if most if not all the new features come standalone in some shape or form.

Ranced

Guys, assuming this is for real, you can always buy a 360 from Gamestop since they offer an in-store 1 year warranty replacement plan.

There.

If you really, really want HDMI so bad and already happen to have the console, go trade in your 360 for credit towards the new one. You'd still have to pay $200, but that probably wouldn't really be a bother if HDMI is so important to you.