Last year, Microsoft enjoyed one of the most excellent holiday seasons from an Xbox One console and games sales standpoint. Its holiday 2015 lineup of games was even better than its 2014 lineup of games, which was no slouch with titles the likes of Halo: The Master Chief Collection, Sunset Overdrive and Forza Horizon 2.

Microsoft began its holiday season early with the releases of Rare Replay and Gears of War: Ultimate Edition in August, followed by Forza Motorsport 6 in September, Halo 5: Guardians in October and Rise of the Tomb Raider in November. Each of the aforementioned games garnered strong scores from critics around the industry.

The lineup was essential in pushing through a significant amount of Xbox One consoles and games. Microsoft's Aaron Greenberg talked about how their lineup of games performed as well as trends and records that occurred.

"I think our team, in a very short amount of time, when you look at our games lineup this [past] holiday, I feel like we delivered one of the best lineups in the industry and we talked about it. We all believe it was one of the greatest games lineups in Xbox history, and to be able to have all those 80 plus MetaCritic titles, to have those titles are largely all come out on time and with high-quality, to see fans reactions [was great]. We set some incredible records.

"Our exclusive games [during the last half] of the year sold 66 percent more units than we did last year. At the same time, we sold more consoles for Xbox One than we have for Xbox 360 every single month...The whole industry is growing and so I think it's good for us, it's good for everybody...We're hungry, I think we know we have to work a little harder, be better than the other guy, in some cases. I think the team has shown up really well," Greenberg told IGN.

This coming year's worth of games will be plentiful and the next major AAA exclusive for Microsoft is Quantum Break, which will debut on April 5. Microsoft will have more coming during the rest of the year, but we'll hear about dates and games as we get closer to June.

Microsoft has reportedly sold through around 19 million Xbox One units, as was apparently revealed by EA in their recent quarterly earnings call. EA said there are roughly 55 million next-gen console units in the hands of gamers today, and with recent PS4 numbers checking in at 35.9 million units, which suggests the Xbox One is sitting around 19 or 20 million units.

Microsoft will look to continue its momentum and growth with its excellent lineup of upcoming games, as will Sony. 2016 should be another exciting year for gamers, and we'll keep you updated on what's coming next.

Posted: Feb 01, 2016 9:14 pm
Related Forum: Xbox Forum

Source: http://www.examiner.com/article/microsoft-boss-on-xbox-one-setting-records-plus-more-games-and-consoles-selling