E3 2011

Xbox 360 sales hit 55 million, Xbox Live users top 35 million

By Tor Thorsen

E3 2011: Three days before its E3 press briefing, Microsoft touts new milestones for console and online service.

Monday morning at 9:30 a.m. PDT, Microsoft will kick off the 2011 Electronic Entertainment Expo with its media briefing from Los Angeles. Today, the company laid the foundation for its presentation by releasing some new statistics about the performance of its Xbox 360 console and its online service, Xbox Live.

No, the Xbox 360 didn't sell 2 million units in 3 days.

No, the Xbox 360 didn't sell 2 million units in 3 days.

Three days after revealing the Xbox 360 had sold 53 million units, the company is now trumpeting the fact the console has, in fact, sold 55 million units in 38 countries life-to-date. According to Microsoft, the 360 has seen 29 percent year-over-year sales growth in the first four months of 2011, which the company claims more than triples the growth rate of the PlayStation 3. In the US, the 360 has been the top-selling home console for 10 of the past 11 months, thanks in part to the introduction of the slimline Xbox 360 S at E3 2010.

As for Xbox Live, the online service now has 35 million "active users" worldwide, up from 30 million in January. (The company did not break out how many were Xbox Live free subscribers and how many paid for access to Xbox Live Gold.) On average, these users spent 60 hours per month on Xbox Live for a cumulative 2.1 billion hours on the service. While the majority of that usage is gaming, this week Microsoft vice president of corporate communications Frank Shaw said that some 40 percent of Xbox Live usage is for "entertainment," including social networking and video.

Microsoft also reiterated that the Kinect has sold 10 million units to date, a fact first revealed in March when the motion-sensing system set a Guinness World Record for being the "fastest-selling consumer electronics device."

By Tor Thorsen

128 Comments

  • Phatjam98

    Posted Jun 7, 2011 11:27 pm GMT

    @fanboy_killa just a tip.... USE THE RETURN POLICY. I'm not gonna repeat myself again because its been said. If your system RROD on ya, you should have just returned it to MS for free and not bought 4 systems straight up.

  • Phatjam98

    Posted Jun 7, 2011 11:26 pm GMT

    @agni_1 I'm confused. You bought a launch 360 back in the day. It has finally crapped out on you after what, 5 years. And you are concerned over having to spend 300 for the new slim with the 250GB drive? I dont see the problem here. It is cheaper, you've been lucky to have a launch box last this long, and the only thing that wont work with the new system is the old memory units because now you can use usb drives. So I'm trying not to get you wrong, but I dont understand what you are trying to say.

  • agni_1

    Posted Jun 7, 2011 9:16 pm GMT

    @phatjam98 dont get me wrong I love my 360 but its just I bought it back in the day when it was very expensive and just like your's mine also RROD'd. Now it seems that I have to buy a new console because that might actually just work out cheaper than separately purchasing all the stuff that the "new" 360's come standard with.

  • Frosty192

    Posted Jun 7, 2011 6:58 am GMT

    @FoxbatAlpha Well there you go no more arguing haha.

  • FoxbatAlpha

    Posted Jun 7, 2011 3:09 am GMT

    @frosty192 cool you are a PC gamer. I thought you were a PS3 fanboy that thought his console was Gods gift to gaming. I am building a gaming pc now and going with a Geforce 580. I cant wait!

  • wondernova

    Posted Jun 7, 2011 12:35 am GMT

    @Syphon_Filter2

    It's 2011, what is free these days?! We are paying for a service that runs smoothly, never crashes, cannot be hacked, will not shut down, and lets me play games online EASILY. No constant firmware updates, no lag in access, and no complicated menus. There's a reason why games like Braid appear on Xbox live first. But I know I'm wasting my breath explaining this. You are simply another "fanboy". Whereas I'm a video game fan. Happy gaming.

  • Frosty192

    Posted Jun 6, 2011 7:10 pm GMT

    @FoxbatAlpha they only reason i comment on this crap is to backfire at you freaking 360 fanboys that think the 360 is gods gift to the gaming community. Ok have your 4 year old machine that was outdated by 2 years after it was released. Me and the rest of the PC community will enjoy time of the line hardware that your xbox will never in a million years surpass. Enjoy your unworthy console.

  • FoxbatAlpha

    Posted Jun 6, 2011 4:48 pm GMT

    @frosty192 nice back up to your claim. anyway who cares about the other peasant countries and what they do and the crap they buy. I only care about my country and I was responding to a article about my country. This country is Sonys main goal and this news is a kick to their nuts. Sorry your beloved PS3 is getting flushed down the toilet and they are taking their fanboys with them.

  • zzamaro

    Posted Jun 6, 2011 12:09 pm GMT

    @AncientDozer

    You are totally heartless. I didn't suggest that, I read the comments, it's there. Go back look up for yourself and read the comments, when GameSpot posted those news about sony losing money. You'll see how 360 fanboys were laughing about that.

  • AncientDozer

    Posted Jun 6, 2011 11:51 am GMT

    @zzamaro

    Really? You should be ashamed of even suggesting that. No one was laughing. No one except people like you which, thankfully, are a minority. It was a tragedy that transcends normal fanboyism and for you to use it as a 'weapon' is diabolical.

  • zzamaro

    Posted Jun 6, 2011 10:37 am GMT

    @AncientDozer
    @focus0894

    See that? That's one of the reasons 360 fanboys are the worst. The major reason 360 fanboys are the worst is that when Sony lost money because of the earthquake in Japan, 360 fanboys were happy about that and laughing. Do you two find funny that people died because of the earthquake?

  • fanboy_killa

    Posted Jun 5, 2011 8:33 pm GMT

    hey Microsoft, i love ya...but some of us helped in that figure because we've had to buy more than one system from you. i've had 4 so far. but i won't complain much because i dig the games and achievement points. but how about when you guys make the next Xbox (fill in whatever number you like Xbox 3, Xbox 720, Xbox 3000) can you reduce the failure rate for us please? other than that, i don't mind paying for the the service, i mean no one is forced too, i don't think....and i'm thinking of getting the Kinect (does it still have problems seeing black people?) anyway, awesome job Microsoft!

  • Syphon_Filter2

    Posted Jun 5, 2011 3:58 pm GMT

    @wondernova
    Our eyes are open you need to open your eyes. We don't pay for anything that it should be free. These the lies that this garbage Microsoft have been telling. The money is put into the service to maintain it" Maintin what? Getting 2 new maps and ripping you off more by charging you when you buy these garbage DLCS? You need series help and open your eyes very good and to discern very good.

  • Megavideogamer

    Posted Jun 5, 2011 3:54 pm GMT

    55 million Xbox 360 Consoles sold. Very good Microsoft. 40% of Xbox live usage is for social networking and video. If Apple was smart they could easily muscle in an over take MS in that area. Since Apple has something of an iBox internet TV thing they are cooking up. So MS has a chance to counter Apple.

  • GamerYnoX

    Posted Jun 5, 2011 3:47 pm GMT

    It's funny how they keep telling
    "According to Microsoft, the 360 has seen 29 percent year-over-year sales growth in the first four months of 2011, which the company claims more than triples the growth rate of the PlayStation 3"

    As far as I know the ps3 is closing the gap and the 360 had a 1 year head start.
    Either way 55mill is impressive

  • richs1000

    Posted Jun 5, 2011 3:37 pm GMT

    It sold a lot because people were always replacing them because of the high failure rate.

  • godzillavskong

    Posted Jun 5, 2011 3:17 pm GMT

    @GodGundamNT1
    "99.9% of Xbox fanaticals have multiple X360s lying around their house" ? Where did you come up with that survey? Have you been to a lot of "Xbox fanaticals" houses? Just curious to how you came up with that assumption?

  • riariases

    Posted Jun 5, 2011 2:45 pm GMT

    I'd like to know how many Xbox Live Accounts or Gamertags there are in total, not just the ones spending over 60 hours on Xbox Live a month.

  • Rocker6

    Posted Jun 5, 2011 2:20 pm GMT

    20 million Xbox owners dont use Xbox Live???
    I say at least half of them are pirates.But anyway,55 million consoles sold is impressive.

  • Sigil-otaku

    Posted Jun 5, 2011 1:28 pm GMT

    @GodGundamNT1 You're such a dumb fool. MS can't count repaired / replacement units as sales. It doesn't work that way at all and you can have some form of an argument if you simply talk about people buying multiple Xbox's due to them breaking (as that happens) but in the you only care about these sales because in a fanboy fashion you want them to be lower. The 360 has done very well to close in on the console market as it has and I think PS3 will win it in sales eventually but overall MS has had a huge error with the RROD but then again so did Sony with the PS2's DRE. I'm guessing your a Sony fanboy (most Nintendo fanboys are actually quite docile and not as loud and brass as Sony fanboys) but why are you acting like MS is such a horrible monopoly when it's competition is Sony? A company that deals with laptops, camera's, games, discs, blue-ray, movie licenses, TV's and many more things. Sony is a huge capitalist monster too and not as bad a monster but in the end just another company playing the monopoly game.