Microsoft has announced that Xbox One sales have increased by 15 percent over the same period last year.
The news comes as part of an Xbox Wire post from Microsoft CMO for Gaming Mike Nichols, who revealed the statistic as a prelude to the company’s June 10th presentation at the Electronics Entertainment Expo.
According to Nichols, the first four months of 2018 as whole mark a “record-setting road to E3,” due to the following statistics:
- Xbox Live players are up 13 percent
- Over 600,000 friendships have been made using the ‘Looking For Group’ feature, while more than 1.2 million Clubs have been created on Xbox Live
- Over 200 games are now Xbox One X Enhanced, compared to the 100-plus confirmed in January
- Gamers have played over four billion hours of games released through the indie ID@Xbox program
- Gamers have played over one billion hours of games in the Xbox One Backward Compatibility library
- Over 10 million people use Microsoft’s Mixer streaming service
It’s important to note that while Microsoft occasionally reveals how much Xbox One sales have grown, the company does not unveil actual sales figures for the console. The most recent estimate, coming in February by way of well-known industry analyst Daniel ‘ZhugeEx’ Ahmad, pegged sales of the Xbox One to be around 35 million. The console launched in November 2013.
Main competitor Sony, on the other hand, revealed last week that it has sold 76 million PS4s worldwide. The PS4 launched exactly one week after the Xbox One in November 2013. Microsoft’s other console competitor, Japanese gaming giant Nintendo, also announced last week that it has sold over 17 million units of its increasingly popular Switch console-handheld hybrid system since its March 2017 release.
Nichols says this year is set to be Xbox’s “biggest E3 yet,” although what Microsoft will actually show during the presentation remains a mystery. The company seems to be playing a more secretive game in regards to its E3 showing this year, while Sony and Nintendo have opted to be more forthcoming about their plans.
In December, Sony revealed that The Last of Us: Part II will have an E3 presence this year, while Nintendo also recently confirmed that Super Smash Bros. for the Nintendo Switch will also be shown off during the show, among other titles.
Presumably, Microsoft will have more to show on Crackdown 3, which was pushed out of 2017 to 2018, in addition to a possible showing from the Halo franchise. Head of Xbox Phil Spencer also recently confirmed that he’s been working on getting more Japanese publishers to present during the company’s E3 showing. However, nothing official has been revealed as of yet.
Source: Xbox
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