Gaming industry news had much to say about Black Friday console sales this week.
Microsoft‘s Xbox 360 sold 750,000 units compared to the Wii U‘s 400,000 during its launch week. Xbox 360′s Live Gold membership increased by more than 50%, which was far and away above the subscription levels of last year’s Black Friday. There were more than 14 million users signed-in to the Xbox Live network on Sunday, playing more than a combined 72 million hours worth of gameplay alone on that day, a 43% increase from last year.
Meanwhile, in the Playstation corner 535,000 PS3 and 160,000 Vita units were also sold. Black Friday bundles sales increased 15% and “quickly sold out at retailers”, while that of hardware, software and peripherals increased by just 9%. The $199 Assassin’s Creed Liberation Bundle sold out in less than 5 hours; similarly priced, Black Ops 2 and Lego Batman 2 bundles continually flew off retail shelves over the next the week. Subscriptions to Playstation Plus grew by an amazing 259% over that of 2011, although bundles did come free with the service for the first month. Sony recently stated, “since the Instant Game Collection was introduced earlier this year, ‘customer satisfaction rates for PS Plus are above 95 percent.”
