Microsoft: Xbox 360 shortage caused lower than expected January 2008 sales

If look at NPD Group’s video game sales numbers for January 2008 at face value, it appears that the Sony PlayStation 3 finally got ahead of the Microsoft Xbox 360. According to Microsoft, however, this isn’t the case. Expectations were not reached because of temporary shortages due to high demand. In its response to NPD, Microsoft stressed out that it’s doing great. Check out the full article to find out why.

Microsoft took no time in responding to the NPD Group’s video game sales numbers for January 2008, saying its Xbox 360 console suffered from temporary shortages during the month its competitor Sony PlayStation 3 outsold the machine in North America for the first time. Microsoft said in a statement:

Our retailers are telling us that Xbox 360 is selling as fast as they can restock, but due to this high demand, Xbox 360 is experiencing temporary shortages. We are working as quickly as we can to replenish inventory.

The game industry giant went on to list down its accomplishments as of the first month of 2008, including the impressive total customer spending on the Xbox 360 which reportedly reached double more than the PS3 and Wii combined. Microsoft did not forget to note that there are more Xbox 360 titles with a Metacritic review score of 80 or higher than the competing consoles combined.

However, there is something in Microsoft’s achievements that doesn’t add up to what the NPD Group released. The list of top ten selling games in January 2008, contrary to what MS stated, only has four Xbox 360 titles. As noticed by GameDaily, it is unclear whether the giant company referred to ranked-by-dollars software sales charts.

While waiting for clarifications from Microsoft, you can check out the rest of its statement below:

• In January, $297 million was spent on the Xbox 360 platform (hardware, software and accessories combined), compared to $244 million on Wii and $219 million on PS3. (U.S. NPD, January)
• $159 million was spent on Xbox 360 games alone in January compared to $131 million on Wii and $80 million for PS3. (U.S. NPD, January)
• Total customer spending on Xbox 360 life-to-date now reaches nearly $8.6 billion; this is more than double PS3 and Wii combined. (U.S. NPD, January)
• Six of the top 10 best selling games in January are on Xbox 360’s platform. (U.S. NPD, January)
• After five months on the market, Halo 3 continues to make the top 10 best selling games list according to NPD with 127,000 additional units sold in January. (U.S. NPD, January)
• Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare on Xbox 360 was the number one selling game across all platforms for the third month in a row. In January, the fourth edition of Activision’s acclaimed war game sold more than 331,000 copies on Xbox 360 and outsold the PS3 version by more than 2:1. (U.S. NPD, January)
• Music fans love to jam on Rock Band and Guitar Hero III on Xbox 360! The Xbox 360 version of Rock Band sold more than 172,000 units in January and ranked fifth on the top 10 best selling games according to NPD. Rock Band on PS3 failed make it into the top 25 list for January. (U.S. NPD, January)
• Third party publishers made 61 percent of their retail revenue, this generation, on Xbox 360 compared to 20 percent on Wii and 18 percent on PS3. (U.S. NPD, January)
• Xbox 360 has 83 titles with a Metacritic review score of 80 or higher compared to just 42 for PS3 and 14 for Wii.

Via GameDaily