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Microsoft announced Dec. 11 that the company had sold more than 2 million Xbox One game consoles since its launch on Nov. 22 to good, but not glowing reviews. And as the clock ticks down on the holiday season, intense demand is making it hard to find at retail.
The company boasted that “more than 2 million consoles sold through to consumers worldwide, averaging more than 111,111 units sold per day—a record-setting pace for Xbox.” To date, Xbox One users have collectively spent “over 83 million hours in games, TV and apps” on the platform. The voice-enabled system supports several online streaming apps and features a High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) pass-through port that allows users to connect their cable TV set-top boxes.
Xbox Live Director of Programming Larry Hryb (a.k.a. “Major Nelson”) noted on his blog that it took Microsoft 18 days to sell 2 million Xbox One consoles across 13 markets.
Amazon’s Director of Video Games John Love said in a statement that during “peak demand, customers were ordering the Xbox One console at over 1,000 units per minute on Amazon.com.”
Bob Puzon, senior vice president of merchandising at video game retailer Gamestop, described the Xbox One as “one of our hottest-selling products this holiday season.”
Chris Nagelson, Walmart’s vice president of entertainment in the United States, stated in the announcement that the device “is one of the hottest Christmas gifts this holiday season and was a top seller this Black Friday.” The retailing giant is refreshing its inventory as fast as it can, he added.
Yusuf Mehdi, corporate vice president of strategy and marketing for Xbox, said in a statement that demand is outstripping supply in “13 launch markets and Xbox One is sold out at most retailers.” He added that users have racked up “more than 1 million paid transactions on Xbox Live to date.”
Gamers are also keeping their virtual trophy cases full. To date, they have unlocked more than 39 million Xbox One achievements and amassed a collective 595 million total “Gamerscore.”
This holiday season, the Xbox One faces off against Sony’s new PlayStation 4 console, which launched a week before the Xbox One. And it’s a close race.
Sony announced Dec. 3 that the company had sold 2.1 million PlayStation 4 consoles worldwide. Claiming that the company is experiencing “incredibly strong” demand, Sony Computer Entertainment president and group CEO Andrew House said that the “PS4 delivered the best launch in PlayStation history.”
Like Sony, Microsoft sold 1 million Xbox One units during its first 24 hours on sale, beating its popular predecessor. In a statement, Microsoft said “the launch of Xbox One was the biggest launch in Xbox history, with more than 1 million consoles sold through worldwide in less than 24 hours—surpassing day one Xbox 360 sales and setting a new record for Microsoft.”