January 2009 NPD Microsoft's Take

With Nintendo ruling both hardware and software charts in the first month of the year, Microsoft decided to use an old Sony tactic: compare to yourself a year ago.
January NPD - Xbox 360 Posts Record January Console and Online Growth; Xbox 360 Games Claim Half of Top 10 Spots

January NPD results are in and Xbox 360 highlights include:

Xbox 360 system sales hit 309,000, up 33 percent from a year earlier, as holiday momentum carries into 2009 Xbox 360 claimed five of the top 10 titles in January, with more top-rated games available than on any other system Single biggest month ever for Xbox LIVE as record number of new members joined in January; exclusive game add-ons extend blockbuster experiences

Xbox 360 kicked off 2009 with a bang, posting record system sales for January of 309,000 units (January NPD data), a 33 percent jump from a year earlier. Sales were driven by Xbox 360’s broad lineup of blockbuster video games, as well as Xbox LIVE, which saw more new members join than during any month in its history. The $199 Xbox 360 Arcade model also offers tremendous value for consumers looking to jump into next-generation interactive entertainment.


Games on Xbox 360

Xbox 360 games claimed five spots in the January top 10, including “Left 4 Dead,” “Call of Duty: World at War,” “Skate 2,” “Lord of the Rings: Conquest,” and “Gears of War 2” (January NPD data).

Sales of third-party games on Xbox 360 hit $139 million in January (January NPD data), with Xbox 360 generating more life-to-date sales at retail for third-party publishers than competing consoles. With 132 Xbox 360 titles rated 80 or higher on Metacritic, compared to 90 for PS3 and 42 for Wii (Metacritic data), it’s no wonder that Xbox 360 owners lead the industry in game purchases, having bought an average of 8.1 games each.


Xbox LIVE Records Highest Member Growth in History

January was also a banner month for Xbox LIVE as more people joined than in any previous month in its history. A total of more than 17 million people are now active members of the industry-leading service, which features a vast selection of downloadable games, game add-ons, movies and TV shows of any device connected to the TV.


Consumers Get More Entertainment on Xbox LIVE

More than 1 million Xbox LIVE members now enjoying Netflix’s streaming video service Each household has watched an average of 16 movies over the service Xbox 360 is the only place to get the complete storylines for hit games like “Grand Theft Auto IV” and “Fallout 3” “Fable II Knothole Island” and “Fallout 3 Operation: Anchorage” were two of the top performers for game add-ons in the month of January The “Halo Wars” demo, released on February 5, set a day-one record for the most demo downloads on Xbox LIVE; with more than 2 million downloads in the first week, it was one of the top demo downloads of all time on the service “The Lost and Damned” arrives February 17 for the highest-rated game of all time, “Grand Theft Auto IV”, only on Xbox LIVE


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