Xbox Broke the $1 billion Barrier for income for MS Fiscal Year 2011

For the first time since the original Xbox was introduced, the software giant’s entertainment business broke the $1 billion barrier for operating income in Microsoft’s fiscal 2011. And it continues to be the best-selling video-gaming system, leading both the Nintendo Wii and Sony PlayStation 3 for 13 out of the past 14 months, a research firm NPD Group said today.

Microsoft sold 277,000 Xbox 360s in July for 43 percent of current-generation console sales, according to NPD Group. However, due to a bigger-than-usual summer lag in gaming sales, Microsoft sold fewer Xboxes in July 2011 than it did in July 2010.

“This was the first month that the Xbox 360 saw a year-over-year decline since December 2009,” NPD analyst Anita Frazier said. “This is more of a reflection of robust sales last July, which was the biggest month for unit sales of the 360 in 2010 outside the holiday months (November and December). Last year’s sales of the 360 hardware platform were driven by the introduction of the Kinect-ready slim form factor.”

For July 2011, industry-wide hardware revenue was down 29 percent, software sales were down 30 percent and accessory sales were down 8 percent from the year-ago period, NPD said.

For two years, Microsoft reinvigorated the Xbox platform with hype for the Kinect motion sensor. In June 2010, Microsoft released a sleek new Xbox 360 that was designed for easier Kinect setup than the older models.

Kinect is Microsoft’s answer to the Wii’s motion controllers. And Kinect arguably is revolutionizing gaming as studios develop games that take advantage of the Xbox’s new controllerless capabilities. Microsoft says the number of games available for Kinect will triple by the end of the year.

Here were the top 10 game titles for July, according to NPD:

1. NCAA Football 12 (Xbox, PS3)
2. Cars 2 (Xbox, PS3, Wii, NDS, PC)
3. Call of Duty: Black Ops (Xbox, PS3, Wii, PC, NDS)
4. Lego Pirates of the Caribbean (Xbox, PS3, Wii, NDS, 3DS, PSP, PC)
5. Just Dance 2 (Wii)
6. Major League Baseball 2K11 (Xbox, PS3, Wii, PC, PS2, NDS, PSP)
7. Zumba Fitness: Join the Party (Xbox, PS3, Wii)
8. Fallout: New Vegas (Xbox, PS3, PC)
9. New Super Mario Bros. DS (NDS)
10. Mortal Kombat 2011 (Xbox, PS3)