Microsoft has announced Xbox 360 sales figures at a D: Dive into Media conference, where it also spoke of the Xbox 360 and its position at the centre of household entertainment ahead of a reported Xbox 720 launch at E3 2013.
With more than 76 million Xbox 360 consoles sold worldwide, the Xbox 360 has now outsold the original Xbox three times over. Over a third of Xbox 360 consoles now have an Xbox Kinect sensor too, with over 24 million sold to date.
The Xbox Live community has increased to 46 million users, a 15 per cent increase from last year, with an average 87 hours a month clocked by Xbox Live members in the US on their Xbox 360 console showing a 10 per cent year-on-year increase.
Yusuf Mehdi, Corporate Vice President of Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment Business, explained the growth of the Xbox 360 from strict gaming consoles to a living room entertainment feature.
“Yes, we started with video games, but we have been on a journey to make Xbox the centre of every household’s entertainment,” said Mehdi, speaking at the D: Dive into Media conference. “We believe that Xbox is being used by more people in the household, during more hours in the day and for more forms of entertainment.”
It seems that Mehdi might be right, as over 18 billion hours of entertainment were racked up in 2012 on Xbox 360 consoles, with entertainment app usage growing 57 per cent year on year across the world. The transformation of the Xbox 360’s role has also been shown by the vast variety of entertainment features enjoyed by Xbox users.
“People are using Xbox in the morning to work out with the Kinect Nike Fitness program, kids are watching cartoons, families are enjoying movies, and of course people are playing blockbuster games like Halo 4,” explained Mehdi.
For the future of Xbox, Microsoft believes that it should be a console that makes TV “interactive and more engaging”.
“We believe that we are at the start of the next wave of truly interactive entertainment,” said Nancy Tellem, President of Entertainment and Digital Media at Microsoft.
Tellem heads a team at the new Xbox Entertainment Studios which aims to create true interactive content for Xbox to transform the way users experience their entertainment content.
“We want to partner with the industry to bring entertainment into a new era. It’s an era when interactive entertainment becomes the greatest form of all entertainment – and we couldn’t be more excited to play a part in it,” added Tellem.
Could this be a hint to what entertainment features the new Xbox 720 will bring? Do you want to see more interactive features for your TV viewing experience? Let us know via the Trusted Reviews Facebook and Twitter feeds or use the comments section below.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
