NPD: Xbox 360 Leads The Big Three In Online-Capable Game Sales [New NPD Report Says Xbox 360 Also Way Ahead Of PS3 & Wii In Unit Sales Of Online Game Cards]

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It appears that the Xbox 360 is the console to go with if you want a huge online community, because the NPD has just published a report that says that the 360 moved roughly twice as many online-capable games as the PS3 did in 2012. Of course, 360 reigned supreme over the Wii as well, but that really shouldn’t come as much of a shocker to anyone.

The graph above plots online-capable game sales from 2006 to 2010. There’s a sizeable spike for all three consoles leading into 2008, but the biggest spike belongs to the Xbox 360, which has helped it maintain its hefty lead even as sales have started to flatten out in more recent years.

A big reason for this is probably because Xbox Live was already a well established service going into 2006, whereas PSN didn’t launch until November of 2006 (and the Wii has never had a solid online offering to begin with). With developers already making games that utilized the service and a userbase already established, all Microsoft needed to do was build on it going into the next generation while Sony played catch up.

Xbox 360 also leads the pack in unit sales of online game cards. Say what you will about Microsoft’s funny munny, it seems that people have welcomed it with open arms anyway (or just don’t trust Microsoft with their credit card numbers):

NPD didn’t share any actual sales numbers for some reason, instead only giving us these graphs to go off of. Even without the exact numbers, it’s still pretty easy to see that Xbox 360 is ahead in both categories, though I’m sure we’ll see a rise in game card sales across the board due to the recent video game hackings that have left a lot of people with personal information out in the open.

What’s your take on this new data? Are you surprised to see Xbox 360 so far ahead in both catergories, or were you expecting the 360 dominance all along? Post a comment and share your thoughts below!

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