New Xbox 720 release need highlighted in 360 sales

Things are currently not looking good for Microsoft because Xbox 360 sales are not what the company had hoped for. The latest sales figures are in and they are down for Q1 of the 2013 fiscal year, which is something they do not want to hear when their rivals Nintendo and Sony are doing much better.

We say that Nintendo are doing better, but we are getting a little ahead of ourselves here, but it stands to reason that sales of their upcoming console the Wii U will see some growth considering the original Wii has almost stalled in terms of sales because global sales for the week ending October 13th was just below 40,000 units. The Xbox 360 shifted just over 155,000 in the same period and the PS3 just under 225,000. The top seller was the 3DS with sales just over 227,000.

It’s clear to see that the Xbox 720 release could not come sooner, especially when you consider that sales of the PS3 (in the UK) have increased by 138 percent, which has been helped by the release of the new Super Slim. However, it’s not all bad because the release of Halo 4 in less than two weeks time should help bring a resurgence back to the Xbox 360.

However, this does highlight a major issue with Microsoft’s console because it’s going to be down to one IP to help revive sales while Sony have the added benefit of not only refreshing their PlayStation 3 for the second time, but also offering new IPs at a greater rate than their rivals. Latest reports suggest that Xbox 360 revenue is down by 24 percent compared to the same period last year, in the last quarter sales were just 1.7 million. Microsoft has laid the blame on Gears of War, but it’s not good business when one title could affect console sales. I might be ridiculed for this, but is it about time that Microsoft stopped spending money on exclusivity deals and put it into the development of new IPs instead?

So it’s almost certain that Xbox 360 sales will increase with the release of halo 4, but one has to wonder how sales of Microsoft’s console will be affected once the Xbox 720 is announced. We’re still not certain when this will be, it could be during CES 2013 or E3 or even a standalone event as Apple does. Once gamers get a glimpse of the Xbox 720 specs and if it has a competitive price then 360 sales could stall once again, what do you think?