The Xbox 360 has just enjoyed its best ever ‘Black Friday’ sales in the USA, significantly sticking it to the Playstation 3 in doing so.
Black Friday, in case you’re wondering, is the Friday immediately following Thanksgiving in the States. It’s not an official holiday itself, but many US workers have the day off and, apparently, like nothing better than to descend on retail in their masses with spending cash burning massive holes in their already oversized pockets. Put simply it’s generally the biggest, most profitable shopping day of the year.
But back to the story, and Microsoft is absolutely full of it, reporting that retail sales of the Xbox 360 are up 25% on the same period last year and, more importantly, are outpacing the Playstation 3 at a rate of 3:1. Have it!
On top of that software sales have been a bit better than brisk, with US punters snapping up biggies such as Gears 2, Fable II and the recently released Lips in heeyooge quantities. MS now reckons that the average number of games owned per console is 8.1, which is the biggest attach rate of all current contenders.
“Record Black Friday sales in the US, coupled with our existing global install base of 25 million and an online community of more than 14 million Xbox Live members, have laid the groundwork for continued global sales momentum in 2009,” says MS Interactive Entertainment senior VP Don Mattrick, only slightly boastfully.
Then again he has good reason for the confidence. 360 sales have been skyrocketing since the price drops - 400% up in the UK alone, and similarly elevated in other worldwide territories. More power to ‘em, we say.
