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30,000 Xbox 360s sold in four days

The Xbox 360 has broken Australian sales records for game consoles, with more than 30,000 sold in the first four days of launch, Microsoft says.

Staff Writers
2 min read

The Xbox 360 has broken Australian sales records for game consoles, with more than 30,000 sold in the first four days of launch, Microsoft says.

Microsoft, quoting sales figures from industry analyst group GfK, said an estimated 30,421 Xbox 360s were sold in Australia during the four days between launch on Thursday, 23 March through to Sunday, 26 March.

Microsoft is crowing that the Xbox 360 has set records for the highest selling console launch in Australia. The original Xbox only sold 6,672 in a similar period when it was launched in March 2002, while the PlayStation 2 sold 3,366 at launch on November 2000. The Nintendo GameCube sold 9,190 units when it was launched in May 2002. The Xbox 360's sales figure also beat the fastest selling handheld console -- Sony's PSP sold 27,055 last year.

"The Xbox 360 has set the new benchmark for a console launch in Australia" said Daniel Morse, Senior Games Analyst, GfK.

More than 350 stores across Australia and New Zealand opened for the midnight launch to help meet consumer demand. Some stores are reporting they have now sold out of stock.

"We are tremendously excited about the reaction from Australian gamers to Xbox 360 during the launch period," said David McLean, Xbox Regional Director, Australia and New Zealand.

"We have set a high water mark and it looks like we will easily reach our launch window forecast. Australians are jumping into the next generation of gaming in a big way".

GfK also estimated strong software sales during the early day of sales with a games attach rate of 2.6 games per console.

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