Microsoft’s senior vice president of Interactive Entertainment Business Yusuf Mehdi spoke with OXM about the sales of the Xbox 360, as well as the next generation of consoles. He expects the Xbox 360 to sell at least 100 million units before it is taken off the market.Half of the sales in the future he says will be replacement, while the other half will be new buyers.
"We believe over the next five years we can break a 100 million unit installed base," said Medhi. "That's something we're shooting for, it's not a financial plan as such, it's just rough numbers if you will. To sell another 25 million, half of those will probably come from replacements, but half will come from new buyers."
"And the way we'll break into those segments is by hitting new price points, getting new classes of entertainment to come with the Xbox, and breaking into new customer segments," he continued. "So you'll see the Xbox 360 continue to exist, even as we launch the next generation Xbox One."
He made a bold prediction when it comes to the next generation of consoles. Industry experts are expecting sales of 400 million between the Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and Wii U, which is about a 30 percent increase over what the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii are expected to sell lifetime. Mehdi is expecting that with an entertainment device that isn't dedicated to gaming that sales could reach one billion.
"Every generation, as you've probably heard, has grown approximately 30%," he said. "So this generation is about 300 million units. Most industry experts think the next generation will get upwards of about 400 million units. That's if it's a game console, over the next decade."
"We think you can go broader than a game console, that's our aim, and you can go from 400 million to potentially upwards of a billion units. That's how we're thinking of the Xbox opportunity as we go forward."
We've seen possible mock-ups of Xbox One box arts over the past couple of days, but these box art shots for Forza 5 that were first posted on Amazon's German store look to be the first genuine ones to surface thus far:
Mike Fischer, President and CEO of Square-Enix of America has left his post with the company. After a short 3 year tenure with Square-Enix, he has left to take the VP position with Japan's Amazon Digital Music and Video division.
Fischer has told Polygon that the departure was amicable. He has previously worked for Microsoft, Namco, and SEGA.
Overview
There are no games in the top 40 to be in their final week.
Four games have 200,000 or more pre-orders, the same as last week, and the top five has 100,000 or more pre-orders, the same as last week. Tw games added 20,000 or more pre-orders, up from one last week and nine added 10,000 or more, up from five last week.
Games in Final Week Before Launch
There are no games in the top 40 to be in their final week.
Major Performers in the U.S. – Week Ending May 25
Metro: The Last Light (X360) sales are expected to drop to around 25,000 units in its second week on sale. The PlayStation 2 version is expected to drop to around 15,000 units.
Overall hardware and software sales are expected to drop slightly week-on-week.
Other Hot Games – In Order of Release
The Last of Us (PS3) is now the most pre-ordered game in the US. It added 17,003 pre-orders, up from 9,996 last week, for a total of 295,519. The game has risen from 44,000 to 46,000 pre-orders ahead of Uncharted 3 during the same number of weeks before release. The game is four weeks away from launch in the USA, June 14, 2013.
Animal Crossing: New Leaf (3DS) added 19,084 pre-orders, down from 11,441 last week, for a total of 221,927. The game is four weeks away from launch in the USA, June 9, 2013.
Grand Theft Auto V (X360) added 4,968 pre-orders, down from 5,970 last week, for a total of 287,296. The PlayStation 3 version added 4,457 up from 3,659 pre-orders for a total of 246,477. The game is 18 weeks away from launch in the USA, September 17, 2013.
Battlefield 4 (X360) added 5,882 pre-orders, down from 8,069 last week, for a total of 138,086. Battlefield 4 (PS3) added 3,309 pre-orders, down from 5,814 last week, for a total of 53,177. The game will be released on October 29, 2013.
Notable mentions: Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMIX (PS3) added 18,144 pre-orders for a total of 50,930. Call of Duty: Ghosts (X360) added 24,986 pre-orders for a total of 50,493. Call of Duty: Ghosts (PS3) added 18,251 pre-orders for a total of 37,554.
Requests: Watch Dogs (X360) added 1,077 pre-orders for a total of 11,190. Saints Row IV (X360) added 1,472 pre-orders for a total of 9,900. Gran Turismo 6 (PS3) entered the charts this week with just 243 pre-orders.
If your favorite game isn't in the top 40, leave a comment requesting which game you want to see and the most requested games will be added in next week's article!
The Top 40 can be seen below or click here to go to the USA pre-orders page.
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