Microsoft touts sale of 17 million Xbox 360s

Tech titan says it sold 4.3 million video game consoles in the last three months of 2007, thanks to titles such as Halo 3 and Mass Effect.

The story "Microsoft touts sale of 17 million Xbox 360s" published January 3, 2008 at 10:55 AM is no longer available on CNET News.

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[dwhipstock]

And Xbox live has been broke since Xmas

In a total lack of planning for success some games, such as Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4, have been unplayable in multilayer mode. Where is the story about that? Every time World of Warcraft has a slight hickup you guys are all over it.

[AdamMoore]

There is stories about that

There is stories about that up already. Look around. Besides, anytime Microsoft is brought into a C|NET thread it's jumped faster than a blind kid with $100 bills taped to his body.<br /><br />I had some issues with Live over the Holidays, but it still worked for me, so it wasn't a complete loss of system connectivity. Obviously there was a problem with size. Many places go through such issues, and I pay for them too.<br /><br />Welcome to the world of human interaction, and no human is perfect, so don't expect the artificial systems created by humans to be any better.<br /><br />The fact they are offering a free game for your loss, and the typical loss of something like...What? $1.50 of server, is generous of them, so people need to get off their high chairs and come back down to reality.<br /><br />But, since we're on the topic of Microsoft, I might as well start of the typical thread, "We hate Microsoft/Apple/Linux" -- and go.

[aemarques]

An explanation, and a compensation

<a class="jive-link-external" href="http://gamerscoreblog.com/team/archive/2008/01/03/555582.aspx" target="_newWindow">http://gamerscoreblog.com/team/archive/2008/01/03/555582.aspx</a>

[rcrusoe]

17 Million! Wow

That would be something to brag about IF MS wasn't losing money <br />on every XBox they sell.<br /><br />Makes me wonder if they are ever going to make money on <br />anything except Windows and Office.

[wooglins]

They dont lose money on each console

They have made a profit on each console sold since 2006. It was about 75 dollars per unit in November of 2006 and costs have continued to drop, I am sure they make even more per unit now.

[robvme]

Incorrect

Xbox and the Entertainment Division is profitable. The console business is like razors and razorblades. The money comes from the games, not the console. With the subscription revenue coming from Xbox Live on a monthly basis we can expect profits to increase along with cashflow. If you look at the financials, not only do the balance sheets confirm this, but take a look at the stock price just before and after the release of Halo 3. $177 million in revenue was generated from that game alone, more than any other opening for any entertainment media in history, including Spiderman 3. <br />With that said, companies that make an investment often do take loses to get into the market, it is the companies that have the endurance to continously improve until profit is made. Zune is the latest example of such an investment. Microsoft Entertainment is one division at Microsoft and represents 1 of 8 core businesses, most of which are profitable. True, Office and Windows are the most profitiable, but not the sole source of money making activity at Microsoft.

[Penguinisto]

Channel Stuffing again?

They got caught doing it last year... I wonder if they gave in to <br />temptation again this year. After all, it isn't as if investors really <br />dig that deep, and a good impression counts more than actual <br />sales to these boys nowadays...<br /><br />/P

[robvme]

I seriously doubt that

With the scrutiny of the anti-trust folks since forever, I seriously doubt MS has participated in any such activity. Reports of Xbox sales are from retail reciepts, not how many are available. Couple that with game sales over the holidays and you can probably extrapolate that these consoles are in the hands of end users. Such a comment is irresponsible without any evidence to back it. Not quite sure why everyone is so quick to disparage Microsoft at every opportunity.

[Nizzuts]

source?

nice work - allege some misconduct with no source or evidence - Penguinisto = Penguinis-troll

[robvme]

No problems experienced

I too did not experience any such problems. There was an update to the Xbox Live console that added some additonal features and I did see some lag with the huge success of Halo 3 and the number of consoles coming online, but that was quickly mediated in my opinion. I have been happily playing all of my games online without interruption. Now, downloading movies, that's another story, still way too slow.

[brandonh33]

I am really getting sick of this.

So 360 shows as expected sales and all of these cnet writers jump all over the storys about how well the 360 is selling while the ps3 shows incredible sales matching the 360's numbers for the holiday season this year, actually out selling the 360 in the last 2 weeks of Dec. and beating last years total 360s sales by a solid margin. Where are all the articles talking about the ps3s huge success on cnet? There are none, just try and find them. All I can find are ones talking about the past low number sales I mean seriously the person that wrote this article put down the sales of the ps3 just before its huge increase in sales, classy. Just because Microsoft made it offical doesnt mean that sonys sales numbers are not avalible. I know that these people have been to vgchartz.com! In fact there hasnt been a positive article on cnet about the ps3 this Holiday season or anytime even close at all. I have "challenged" the fanboy writers at cnet to write just one article that is pro-ps3 and I am doing it again. Heck just rip one off of another site. Of course you all know that they wont do it. When sonys "offical" sales numbers come out do any of you guys think that they are going to write up an article about how great they are? Hopefully they will when they read my posts, but that is having very high hopes. Also, where are all of the anti-360 articles on cnet? Where is the big story about xbox live having serious issues that have been affecting the vast majority of live users for almost half of a month now?