Xbox Accelerates Into Holiday With Full Head of Steam

Fueled by a highly touted lineup of new game titles and the growing popularity of its unified online gaming service, Microsoft® Xbox® is outpacing the industry as the only next-generation console to continuously demonstrate positive market share growth on a year-over-year basis (August 2002 to August 2003). According to NPD Group Inc. (NPD Funworld TRSTS, August 2003), sales of the Xbox console increased 6 percent from this same period last year, while Sony's PlayStation 2 dropped 36 percent and Nintendo's GameCube fell 22 percent. Xbox now captures 27 percent of the U.S. industry market share for next-generation consoles and is on track to capture additional market share this holiday season.

Along with the momentum for Xbox hardware, August sales of Xbox software grew faster than on both PlayStation 2 and GameCube, up 58 percent for this same period last year. Pulling in two of the top four best-selling titles and four of the top 10 in August, the Xbox cumulative attach rate increased to 5.8, the highest on record for any next-generation console after 22 months on the market. Xbox top sellers included "Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Island Thunder" by Ubi Soft Entertainment, "Soul Calibur II" by Namco, "Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic" by LucasArts, and EA's "Madden 2004."

Xbox Live (TM) , the premier online gaming service, saw a 17 percent leap in sales of Xbox Live Starter Kit in August. Supplementing this achievement was the launch of XSN Sports, the first truly virtual online sports league for any Xbox Live-enabled video game featuring the XSN Sports logo, including "NFL Fever 2004" from Microsoft Game Studios. Xbox Live, the world's most intense unified gaming service, offers gamers a consistent, reliable and exhilarating experience. With its unified approach, Xbox Live allows gamers to easily find their friends online, match up with players of all skill levels, and quickly jump into their favorite games with friends and foes around the world.

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