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Pachter: Discounted 360s, Not Slims, Behind June’s Sales Spike

Remember last week's reveal of the June NPD sales numbers, where Microsoft enjoyed its second-best hardware sales since the Xbox 360 launched? If you thought that sales surge was from the introduction of Microsoft's redesigned hardware, the Xbox 360 S, you're at least partially correct. Apparently, the boost wasn't from consumers updgrading to the new hardware, but was largely the result of shoppers snatching up discounted versions of the older hardware as retailers scrambled to clear shelf space.

According to analyst Michael Pachter, citing NPD figures, less than half of the Xbox 360s sold in June were the newly designed SKUs. The 360 S did account for 40 percent of June sales, but the bulk of consumers opted for older, cheaper hardware. The Arcade version of the system pulled in 35 percent of Xbox 360 sales for the month, no doubt buoyed by various incentives that stores piled on to entice consumers. The rest of the June Xbox 360 sales were from Elite and Premium versions of the hardware.

"It is clear that the sales spike for the 360 was largely temporary, as clearance items accounted for around 60 per cent of total sales, and it is not clear that software attached heavily to these purchase," Pachter told investors, as reported by Games Industry. We'll have about a month to wait before we see if he's right.

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Comments
  • Isn't that a bad idea, since you end up paying $200 extra just to get on LIVE?

  • Screw 360, man... Mine just ruined my copy of Assassin's Creed 2 on Sunday morning.  Ringed it! I didn't expect to have to go purchase a game I already owned first thing in the morning.  That being said, it was my fault.  I accidentally moved it while AC2 was on.

  • I want a new 360S  but then again I also want a PS3 slim.

  • I just went out and got the 360 slim, I can't even play online without the wireless because of the placement of my television in relation to my router. For the extra $50 or whatever to get the slim, it's worth it instead of paying $100 for the stupid wireless adapter.

  • PATCHER IS THE DUMBASS THAT SAYS MULTIPLAYER GAMES SHOULD HAVE SUBSCRIPTIONS TO HELP THE VIDEO GAME INDUSTRY'S ECONOMY WHEN IN FACT IT WILL MAKE IT WORSE BY PEOPLE NOT BUYING THE GAME IN GENERAL BECAUSE OF PAYING MORE MONEY ON TOP OF 60$ JUST TO PLAY THE GAME EVERY MONTH.

  • Well, thats good. As long as Xbox keeps selling Im happy. I wont be getting the new Xbox since I have the elite and there is really no need to upgrade.

  • i hate 360s my friends have then and theve all got the red rings at least 3 times

  • No surprise here.

    Some people are probably still skeptical of the Slim's reliabilty. I'm holding off on upgrading until a few months from now, to see if it has any issues.

  • *** it! I should have gotten an Elite or something over the weekend. :(

  • Fine so the sale boost was the older model that's fine, bottom line means more homes have an xbox 360 in them. which mean more subscribers to xbox live,more software sold,accessories & maybe newer xbox 360 in that same home.which is the point of making & selling a product.so Pachter screaming out which MS system sold is pretty much a insignificant issue in the grand scheme of things for MS.(JMO)
  • I think it's more than clear that software had nothing to do with the purchases of these consoles.

  • I could see that being true but come on, the new slim definitely made people even with 360s to give some extra dough to get it.

  • That walmart sale definitely was the main reason the Arcade version sold so well.

  • Anybody know how much GameStop pays for 360 trade ins?

  • Two of my three closest friends went out and bought slims in the first week... and neither of them log more than probably 6 hours a week gaming. I want to get one pretty bad... love the whole package - but waiting for a Kinect bundle...

  • Not surprised. There were more of them available. I have yet to see a Slim on a store shelf.

  • I was wondering how the 360 beat out the Wii last month in sales. I underestimated the level of the 360's sneakiness.

  • Thats been my point all along. PS3 Slim didn't sell a hell of alot more because of the redesign, it sold more because of the price drop. I mean, c'mon here, the Ps2 is the best selling console of all time. Why didn't people like me follow up with the ps3? $600 is absurd. Yeah, people bought it, but not the casuals that bought the PS2. This whole 360 redesign is pointless, all they had to do is lower the prices of the consoles. But why would they listen to the consumer????

  • Thats been my point all along. PS3 Slim didn't sell a hell of alot more because of the redesign, it sold more because of the price drop. I mean, c'mon here, the Ps2 is the best selling console of all time. Why didn't people like me follow up with the ps3? $600 is absurd. Yeah, people bought it, but not the casuals that bought the PS2. This whole 360 redesign is pointless, all they had to do is lower the prices of the consoles. But why would they listen to the consumer????

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