Xbox 360 sells 630,000 units in Australia

By James Kozanecki, GameSpot AUPosted Jun 11, 2009 8:26 pm PT

Xbox exec gives updated sales figures down under; explains Video Marketplace delay.

The last time Microsoft detailed how the Xbox 360 was going in Australia, it confirmed the console was sitting pretty at 537,000 units sold. In an interview with GameSpot AU at E3 2009, Xbox regional director for Australia and New Zealand, David McLean, has updated that figure, saying that more than 630,000 units have now been sold in Australia, an increase of 93,000 since January this year. As for New Zealand, more than 80,000 consoles have been sold since launch.

Despite the increase in sales, Xbox Live sign-up rates in Australia remain the same, with 50 percent of Xbox 360 owners using the Xbox Live service.

When it came to talking about Video Marketplace, which has finally been confirmed for a late 2009 launch down under, McLean offered a few more details than the initial press release put out by Microsoft last week. Like Rock Band last year, McLean confirmed that "licensing and copyright issues" have been the cause behind the delay of the Australian rollout. Unfortunately, McLean says he isn't confident Australians will get a mirror service of that enjoyed by US users, saying: "I can't say that it will be the full set of content that the US has, partially because of those licensing issues."

When pressed for a release date for Video Marketplace, McLean simply said: "My expectation is that it will be here well before the end of the year". Stay tuned to GameSpot AU for more details as they're announced.

20 Comments

  • Stunt_Pilot

    Posted Jun 15, 2009 5:43 pm PT

    Well, thinking mathematically, I'd say a lot more than 50% of the 360 owners in Australia would be using xbox live. Fact is, a lot of those 630k sales are going to be replacements for units that were struck by the 3RLOD (taking into consideration the 3RLOD and E74 failure rate was at 75% of all boxes sold at one point). Once you factor that in, it may be a good idea to push for a bit more live content since just about every current owner who's going to be interested in Live content is already on the bandwagon...

    But yea. Videos. I'm all up for that. (Y)

  • RubMyDucky

    Posted Jun 14, 2009 11:26 am PT

    Movie downloads... about time! =D

  • Sagacious_Tien

    Posted Jun 14, 2009 11:25 am PT

    Sounds good. The Xbox 360 and the Xbox before it always enjoyed good sales in Australia. Seems Australia does get behind all three console makers and enjoys good games with the best of them, even if there is a great deal of casual gamers in Australia.

  • masterds64

    Posted Jun 14, 2009 4:38 am PT

    @rub my ducky
    Aussie's love the wii more sadly, at almost eb game I go it's a wii game every 5 mins...it's far cheaper

    But I'm tempted to get one..it's cheaper to buy then when it first came out years ago...now if only resi evil 5 were cheaper I would kill whoever's in my way to get one

  • badiie05

    Posted Jun 13, 2009 11:28 pm PT

    yea well...i USED to have an xbox till it broke down on me well i bet 40% of those xbox got the red ring of fire like what happened to me :/ anyways i have a ps3 now

  • 2x4b96123

    Posted Jun 13, 2009 10:29 pm PT

    "That's pretty good. That means 3.35% of Aussies own an 360. Not bad, since there's all of the people who aren't gamers here."
    and consider.. multiply that percentage by 4 or so to get an idea of the percentage of households with a 360

  • RubMyDucky

    Posted Jun 13, 2009 9:33 pm PT

    Aussies love the Xbox.

    Gamertag: Rub My Duckyy

  • Aztec888

    Posted Jun 13, 2009 9:35 am PT

    That's pretty good. That means 3.35% of Aussies own an 360. Not bad, since there's all of the people who aren't gamers here.

    Actually, that'd be a good way to determine a console's success - count the number of people who own a console, and then find what percentage own an Xbox or PS3, say. If over 50% of Aussie gamers own an Xbox, then that's not half bad.

  • Salta06

    Posted Jun 13, 2009 2:11 am PT

    Nice figures I suppose but,

    How many are second, third etc console purchases? I'm onto my second elite.....

    Just wish MS would have got it right the first time around, great games, great online community, cheap garbage hardware is really taking the shine off those figures....

    My PS3 is going strong though, no complaints.

  • gameking5000

    Posted Jun 13, 2009 1:13 am PT

    The Xbox 360's figures look terrible compared to the Wii

  • Marka1700

    Posted Jun 12, 2009 4:16 am PT

    Pretty good numbers considering Australias total population is only about 21 Million.

  • lamprey263

    Posted Jun 12, 2009 3:55 am PT

    that's pretty good, even though less than what they've sold in Japan, Australia is only 1/6th the population of Japan; so proportion-wise they've done better

  • sasha08

    Posted Jun 12, 2009 3:05 am PT

    Thats interesting, when 360 sold 537,000 units, the PS3 sold 500,000 units. Us Australians prove once again, we are the real gamers.

  • jmoussa1987

    Posted Jun 12, 2009 2:19 am PT

    Great interview. Xbox is becoming a real innovator in the marketplace. take that wiiii!

  • Payback7

    Posted Jun 12, 2009 2:05 am PT

    Congrats XBOX. That means alot coming from me too!! I'm a Nintendo man all the way. Much respect, if it wasn't for XBOX I doubt we'd have online capabilities on the Wii (no matter how dodgy it is! lol) and online for consoles in general. Credit where credit's due. Now back to my PC!! HAHAHA

  • eddy96_1 posted Jun 12, 2009 2:04 am PT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    eddy96_1

    Posted Jun 12, 2009 2:04 am PT (hide)

    "50 per cent of Xbox 360 owners using the Xbox Live service."

    thats pretty poor

  • hotfiree posted Jun 11, 2009 11:31 pm PT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    hotfiree

    Posted Jun 11, 2009 11:31 pm PT (hide)

    Despite the increase in sales, Xbox Live sign-up rates in Australia remain the same, with 50 per cent of Xbox 360 owners using the Xbox Live service. Thats because half of the 360's sold are a second one for the owners as their own one broke down

  • Inconnux

    Posted Jun 11, 2009 11:23 pm PT

    I would like to know the competitions numbers down under as well to put the numbers in perspective.

  • benboz

    Posted Jun 11, 2009 11:11 pm PT

    Xbox 360 FTW. Can't wait for the video marketplace.

  • aozman

    Posted Jun 11, 2009 10:07 pm PT

    i love my xbox

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