It only took two price cuts, a ridiculous amount of console bundles and some month’s of them distancing themselves from the Kinect 2 sensor, but Microsoft says sales of its Xbox One console are up sharply.
Microsoft posted a sort of celebratory update on Xbox One sales this week on its Xbox Wire news blog. The blog itself isn’t exactly illuminating, but it does look like sales of the Xbox One are up sharply — provided you’re willing to take Microsoft’s Yusef Mehdi at his word.
“The response to this wave of blockbuster game releases and new bundles has been amazing, and sales have skyrocketed since the new price took effect on Nov. 2. Compared to the previous week, Xbox One sales in the US have more than tripled, which is exciting as more and more friends will be playing together this holiday. As we head into the busy holiday season Xbox One led generation 8 console sales in the US for the past two weeks. Shortly, we will have sold in to retailers more than 10 million Xbox One consoles.”
According to Mehdi, those shopping for a new gaming and entertainment console are picking up the Xbox One in droves. 10 million consoles isn’t anything to sneeze at. Provided, that you keep in mind that’s almost 10 million consoles Microsoft has sold to retailers. Remember, it’s the retailers job to then sell those consoles to buyers. Putting that number aside, the other comments are more fascinating. For the past two weeks the Xbox One has beaten Sony’s PlayStation 4 in sales. That’s big news.
We’re not ones to put much stock in anecdotal console sales, but it is definitely the best news Microsoft has shared with fans of its console in some time. The Xbox One started at $499 and included no games. Today, every Xbox One bundle comes with a free game at $399. Those who want the Kinect 2 sensor can still pick up the more expensive bundle are buy it separately for $149.