Xbox Celebrates Record Year

Sydney, Australia, 9 Feb 2011 - Microsoft's Xbox 360 can reveal it was the fastest growing gaming console in the market in 2010, with the Xbox division experiencing its biggest year on record in Australia.

Xbox 360 bucked the trend in a market where total console sales declined year on year, showing 20 per cent increase in total sales from the previous year.

Xbox 360 also grew an impressive 52 per cent from the Christmas-period 2009 to Christmas 2010. The achievement was propelled by the launch of Kinect for Xbox 360, Microsoft's revolutionary controller-free entertainment accessory, driving sales over the competitive Christmas period to result in Xbox's strongest ever Q4 sales.

With Microsoft selling more than 8 million units of Kinect for Xbox 360 globally in the first 60 days of release, David McLean, General Manager of Xbox Australia and New Zealand, said he was excited by the results.

"The Christmas period is always the key indicator of whether or not you have connected with consumers, and Christmas 2010 was a milestone year for Xbox," McLean said.

"Christmas sales are a telling time for future trends and gauging what's popular amongst consumers. With Kinect we have changed the landscape of the gaming and entertainment industry. We have opened gaming to a new audience and essentially created a new genre in controller-free entertainment."

With yearly results also revealing a 48 per cent increase in Xbox Live subscribers and 75 per cent increase in number of hours spent on Xbox LIVE, totaling 200 million hours*, McLean believes the direction of the industry is moving towards an integrated entertainment experience for consumers.

"With Foxtel on Xbox 360, coupled with social networking, films via Zune and a great line up of blockbuster games, Xbox 360 is leading Australian families into an era where there is one central point for all families' entertainment experience in the home," he explained.