A price cut worked for Microsoft’s Xbox 360 in August,
boosting its US sales, while the release of its Halo 3 game this month is
likely to accelerate adoption of the next-generation console.
Sales figures for the video game industry released by the
NPD research firm today showed 277,000 360s were sold in August, compared to
170,000 in July.
Microsoft cut the price of its most popular version, with a
20Gb hard drive, by $50 on August 8 to $349.
Halo 3 is released on September 25 and Microsoft is bringing
out a special version of the console to mark the occasion.
Sony’s PlayStation 3, which saw sales rise from 98,000 in
June to 159,000 in July after a price cut, recorded sales of 131,000 units in
August. Nintendo’s Wii sold 404,000 units, compared to 425,000 in July.
Electronic Arts’ Madden NFL 08 football game was the best
selling software for the month and the Xbox was the biggest-selling platform
for the franchise for the first time. It sold 897,000 units on the 360, 644,000
on the PlayStation 2 and 336,000 on the PlayStation 3.
Software sales for consoles are up 21 per cent on last
year in dollar terms, helped by higher prices being charged for next-generation
versions. But they are almost flat in unit terms – growing just 1 per cent,
although the arrival of the Madden and Halo 3 blockbusters should improve
matters.
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