Xbox 360 install base surges to 28 million
by Dustin Burg 
{ Jan 6th 2009 at 8:30AM }
Late last night, Microsoft sent word that they've reached an Xbox 360 install base milestone, announcing that by 2008's end they have been able to sell 28 million consoles worldwide. That's an increase of around 10 million consoles since last January, don'tcha know.
On top of the 28 million install base news, Microsoft proudly informed us that 2008 saw an 84% increase in year-over-year online consumer spending, that the Xbox Live community has ballooned to 17 million members and that over $1 billion has been spent on Xbox Live since its launch in 2005. High fives all around!
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
SaNcTuS @ Jan 6th 2009 8:37AM
*High Five*
now, is it so hard to get at least .05% of that 1 Billion dollars to pay epic and have our damn gears of war 2 title update?!
brytdavis @ Jan 6th 2009 8:45AM
LOL ... well said!
Jorge @ Jan 6th 2009 11:16AM
why? its not Microsoft's fault that gears 2 is an 'epic' fail.
jason @ Jan 6th 2009 8:45AM
28 million is impressive, but what is the actual number? Me and my brother together purchased 5 consoles, and three of those are fuct. How many others out there are in a similar state.
Ian @ Jan 6th 2009 10:38AM
The launch units are only NOW starting to come out of warranty. If you bought them to replace RROD'd consoles, its because you're impatient. They do fix them for free you know.
jamkor @ Jan 6th 2009 10:30AM
I switched from PS3 to XBox 360. Haven't regretted a single minute of it.
jason @ Jan 6th 2009 8:51AM
I also have a a ps3 and have to say it comes up short in every way possible...except as a blu-ray player. I would hate to own it a my primary game console.
B @ Jan 6th 2009 8:56AM
"shipped"
SadisticHam @ Jan 6th 2009 9:49AM
I love how people make a big deal out of this. All three as far as i know base there sales on Shipped and not sold. Theirs no other way to do it.
Microsoft has sold the consoles to the store, unless it's going to sit there all year it's a safe bet to assume there going to sell to customers. So it's fairly accurate anyway.
Snugglez @ Jan 6th 2009 9:17AM
I personally disagree that the ps3 comes up short at all, I bought my 360 as a supplement to my ps3, I love the xbox arcade titles but gears of war, halo, and fable wouldn't have been enough to make me own the console, everything else i can get on my ps3.
Ian @ Jan 6th 2009 10:39AM
Conversely, Resistance, MotoStorm, Uncharted and MGS4 aren't enough to make me own a PS3. Everything else I can get on the 360. :)
guttertalk @ Jan 6th 2009 10:54AM
@Ian: True as that may be, that's a far cry from saying that the PS3 "comes up short," which was Snugglez's point.
Brian @ Jan 6th 2009 9:50AM
With numbers like that, I think it is time they made Xbox Live Gold FREE. M$ can obviously afford it. It would amount to quite a blow to the Nintendo and serve as the final "nail-in-the-coffin" for the PS3. Gold membership being free was a rumor at one point. Time to make it a reality M$. (please)
ericvitale @ Jan 6th 2009 9:54AM
I gladly play for live as long as they provide me with a great place to game online with lots of features. I don't have a PS3 so I can't compare it to the PS3 online system, but I think its worth it. I pay $40 for 13 months on ebay.
BobTheElephant @ Jan 6th 2009 10:12AM
I also am willing to pay the price for live, it's not like it's all that expensive considering what you get for it.
TheIcemanCometh @ Jan 6th 2009 10:42AM
I don't mind paying for XBL either. It's well worth the price. Except for the issues during the 2007 holiday season, it's a very solid service.
As for the PS3 - I also have one, but use it pretty exclusively as a Blu-ray player. I have no desire to play any of the PS3-exclusives, and I absolutely despise the controller.
guttertalk @ Jan 6th 2009 11:01AM
What you get for gold is essentially viewing some trailers and playing multiplayer games, the latter of which is free on PCs.
I own a 360 and have a gold account, but this is a bad precedent, paying for something that is free and works just as well, if not better, on PCs.
Between this and the shoddy quality of the 360, I won't be buying another Xbox console.
RaZ0r Sh4Rp @ Jan 6th 2009 12:10PM
By forcing people to pay for Live Gold membership, they make it a "privilege" which can also be revoked. Unlike the PS3 where it is "included" with the console, so every little kid who gets a PS3 can also get online and play. So it also creates a barrier to entry and probably ultimately cuts down the number of a-holes and little kids who would otherwise play unrestricted.
Besides, you can get 12+1 cards only easily for $40. 40/13 roughly equals $3 a month. Most people 16 and up can certainly afford that.
yo Naturale @ Jan 6th 2009 2:44PM
Ah yes... the Halcyon days of Halo 2. When Microsoft was giving away XBL free trial cards with practically every property.
Brats would get banned, then fire up the Internets and pull another trial code off a message board to promptly abuse.
It wasn't until XBL started banning credit cards and specific consoles that people started acting *a little* more civil.
LegendaryRedass @ Jan 6th 2009 4:44PM
I sort of agree with you Brian. I didn't mind paying for my subscription, but now that my kids are old enough to play with online, I have to pay for 2 more substiptions. They should at least make the fee you pay cover one household.
yo Naturale @ Jan 6th 2009 5:37PM
LegendaryRedass... It does seem sort of surprising that MS hasn't offered some sort of bundling for multiple subscriptions to Live (in the same manner that anti-virus software will offer bundling for multiple computers).
Though some would probably foresee trouble when Child #1 gets the console banned for Adult User, and Small Child #2 because of poor online behavior or misuse.
Considering MS offers no kind of price-break for mass purchasing of MS Points, I think it's fair to assume that they'll hold the same line for XBL subscriptions.
OS Perry @ Jan 6th 2009 10:16AM
Well congrats to MS... maybe that will even the books for the RROD. I love my 360, but if they had ironed out their hardware issues beforehand, and shipped a more reliable product they would be over 30 million consoles sold, I'm sure. I don't mind paying for Gold, but MS, don't nickel and dime me, and charge a premium for your silly overpriced 120GB HD, and other pricey accesorries.
mcwattersm @ Jan 6th 2009 12:40PM
Horay for putting more money into the peoples pockets that don't need it!
Highimpact1 @ Jan 7th 2009 1:56AM
You mean helping our economy? In times of recessions the entertainment industry often does well, but that's a good thing since it helps to put money back in the market. Plus Microsoft is a hiring U.S. business, whereas a company such as Sony is based in Japan.
Jake @ Jan 6th 2009 1:37PM
I was a hold-out on the game consoles until this December when I decided to make a choice and purchase one of the big 3.
XBOX360 has most of the titles I wanted and middle price-point and I heard lots of good things about XBOX live. But, I was concerned about hardware issues.
Nintendo was cheapest and appealed most to chil'ren (which I have), but unless you want to play Mario 67 different ways, it didn't seem to have much appeal to me. I played my brother's and was basically "m'eh" about it. Seems to appeal mainly to kids and casual gamers.
PS3 had the blue-ray player and little else that appeals to me. The drawbacks were that it is more expensive, fewer titles, less developed on line, and is a Sony.
Anyway, as you can probably guess cause I am posting this here, I bought the XBOX360 on December 8. The first console I got had a defect disc drive that had repeated disc read errors. Fortunately I found this within 30 days and exchanged it at Gamestop and got one of the newer units, I believe, and it has worked flawlessly for 2 weeks now.
My complaint about XBOX live is the downloads are glacially slow compared to other downloads that I do with my PC on my home network.
So far, I don't regret choosing the XBOX360.
Highimpact1 @ Jan 7th 2009 1:59AM
You must have an indirect line going to your 360, Microsoft hosts dedicated servers for all company based downloads.