Over the weekend, in a major shock in the video game industry, Microsoft’s 7-year (extremely dated) Xbox 360 sold over 750,000 units in North America alone exceeding initial internal forecast. The console discounted by $50 for Black Friday sales wasn’t expected to be this big of a seller considering how many people have a 360 in their household (which is everybody I know here behind the scenes); this was pretty impressive considering the timing with the Nintendo Wii-U just launching.
With the lack of exclusives on PlayStation 3 this year and Nintendo Wii-U disappointing most of the gaming community with Zombie-U, I think we might already know who the winner of 2012 is in North America before December hits. Largely credited to Halo 4, Forza Horizon and your girlfriend’s favorite, Dance Central 3, Microsoft is in a position to rain on Nintendo’s parade for the first time ever outselling the Wii-U in America its first two launch months, significantly.
Major Nelson of the Microsoft camp spoke on the news earlier and said Xbox Live Gold Subscription sales have increased more than 50 percent this year with an increase of 43% of entertainment application usage logged on during the week of Black Friday.
As an “all in one” console (and I do mean all-in-one with a LEGITIMATE ONLINE SERVICE), The Xbox 360 has been a system that caters to all categories including the recently added Watch ESPN Live app along with the popular HBO Go service currently only on the 360; fans can look forward to Skype, WWE Network and NCAA March Madness LIVE releasing this spring to keep your 360 on at all times like most of ours.