Ahead of the company’s keynote presentation at CES in Las Vegas last night, Microsoft put out one of those “Look At Us and How Awesome We Are” promo videos, stuffed with big, impressive numbers and facts certified Quote-Ready™ for fanboy wars all over the internet.
According to the video, the Xbox 360 has now sold 66 million units since its launch in 2005, with almost 10 million of those added since October last year, while Kinect has sold 18 million units to date, 8 million up from the previous year. The Xbox LIVE service now counts “nearly” 40 million subscribers (including both free and premium), which works out to around about 60 percent of Xbox owners. That’s a lot of millions.
“Did I expect this to happen 10 years ago?” Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said during the keynote. “I bet on this 10 years ago.”
The company also announced a new media partnership with News Corp, bringing Fox News, 20th Century Fox, and other Fox affiliates to the console in America. Which doesn’t apply to us, of course, but Fox News? Eh, they can keep it.