Xboxist

Xbox 360 Slim Launch Considered a Massive Success

This past month the Xbox 360 managed to outsell Sony's competing Playstation 3 console by some 145,000 units in the United States. The total number of 360 consoles sold at retail was 451,700 and this number was undoubtedly helped along by the launch of Microsoft's new slim version of the 360 hardware (See June NPD results here). Revealed at E3, The Xbox 360 slim comes with a 250 GB hard drive and built-in wifi, making it a better value than its predecessor for people who want to take advantage of wireless. The company also gave its new product a solid marketing push, which helped to drive sales in a month that is traditionally fairly slow for video games.

The company chose a fairly straightforward tactic to market the new hardware, choosing to focus mainly on the slick and shiny design of the box as well as its diminutive size (see video below). We actually rather like the new design, and it gives the machine more of a high-end consumer electronics look than the old computer-case colored predecessor.

Microsoft has its eyes on the even more lucrative holiday shopping season which begins in late September. The company hopes that its new Kinect motion controller will help drive even more sales:

""Retail demand for the new Xbox 360 250GB console remains high, and retailers continue to order as many units as Microsoft is able to supply. Collectively, Microsoft has also heard from retailers around the US that Kinect and its related games are a top priority this holiday," the company said in a prepared statement.

Rumor has it that Microsoft is even planning to roll out a Slim Arcade SKU later this summer.