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Xbox tops Wii in U.S. sales in Sept; Microsoft to cut Xbox price in Japan

October 23, 2007 6:31 pm Douglas Blog Posts

The Xbox 360 home videogame console of Microsoft Corp surpassed its rival Wii of Nintendo Co in September sales in the U.S. market for the first time this year, according to a survey by the market research firm NPD Group.

Sales of the Xbox 360 reached about 528,000 units, compared with 501,000 for the Wii and 119,000 for the PlayStation 3 of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.

Meanwhile, Microsoft said Monday it would cut the prices of its Xbox 360 consoles in Japan as it ramps up competition with rivals Sony and Nintendo ahead of the key year-end shopping season.

Microsoft said it would slash the price of the standard Xbox 360 by just over 12% to 34,800 yen from Nov 1. The move follows markdowns in North America announced in August.

The price of the Xbox 360 “core system,” a basic model without a hard-disk drive, will be cut by almost 7% to 27,800 yen in Japan.

Microsoft will also sell a special set of the Xbox 360 console and two game software titles at 34,800 yen for a limited period of time beginning on Nov 1, a company statement said.

The announcement comes two weeks after Sony said it would lower the price of the standard PlayStation 3 in Japan by 10% to 44,980 yen and introduce a new slimmed down PS3 for 39,980 yen.

The Xbox 360 had the advantage of being released a year before Sony’s PS3 and Nintendo’s Wii, which both debuted in Japan in November of last year.

While sales of the PS3 have been slower than expected due to its hefty price and a dearth of must-have exclusive game software for the consoles, the Wii has been a hit, targeting people who do not usually play video games.