360 the biggest seller this Christmas

Author: Ryan Garside
Published: 3rd January 2007

The Xbox 360 is heading the pack at the moment - how long will that be the case?

Despite being the oldest of the next-generation consoles, the Xbox 360 led the pack in terms of sales this Christmas according to Market Analysts IDC.

Gamesindustry reports that around 2 million 360s were sold in the run up to Christmas. This figure was followed closely by the Nintendo Wii which sold 1.8 million units. It’s difficult to decide what’s more impressive; the fact that the Wii managed to sell so many in such a short period of time or that the 360 was able to sell the most despite already being available for over a year.

What’s not difficult is assessing the poor sales of the Playstation 3. According to IDC the stock shortages through the festive season meant only 750,000 Sony consoles were shipped. Despite this many sites today are reporting that the Playstation 3 will eventually emerge victorious from this console war. British analysts Datamonitor is predicting that the PS3 will sell 75 million units by 2010, compared to 40 million 360s and only 31 million Wiis.

Microsoft probably won’t be fazed by the report though. Not only did it have the biggest selling console of Christmas, but reports are suggesting that its movie and TV downloads service through Xbox Live is also doing extremely well. Gizmodo reports that the HD content is doing particularly well, unsurprising considering that many 360 users struggle to utilise their HD televisions for much else other than gaming. Bill Gate’s boys are now planning on expanding the service.

What do you make of the industries predictions? Did you think the 360 would be the biggest selling console of Christmas? Let us know your thoughts on the next-gen war in 2007 over in the forums.