NPD Analyst: Backwards Compatibility Is Boosting Microsoft’s (MSFT) Xbox 360 Software Sales

Xbox 360 software sales at surprising second position in July








Microsoft Corporation’s (NASDAQ:MSFT) Xbox One backward compatibility with Xbox 360 games has been one of the biggest announcements for the console since the E3 conference in June. The initiative helped Microsoft set Xbox platforms apart from the competition.



Recently, The NPD group revealed statistics for console and game sales during July. Sony Corp.’s (NYSE:SNE) PlayStation 4 won top spot yet again with the highest sales in the software sales department. Surprisingly, Xbox One did not rank second, the spot is now occupied by Microsoft’s Xbox 360.

Some might see this as the fall of the Xbox One in the video games market. To be fair, the Xbox One or PlayStation 4 did not have too many interesting game releases in the month, which is why each fell short of potential sales.

But, NPD group analyst, Liam Callahan, takes a different perspective. In an interview with GamesBeat, Mr. Callahan said that the month of July has been light on new releases and the Xbox 360 physical software sales were second highest in number, after physical software sales for the PlayStation 4. He said the reason for the abnormally high Xbox 360 software sales could be backward compatibility for the Xbox One.

July was the first full month to go by since the compatibility announcement, and sales figures during the time indicate that more players are buying Xbox 360 games, because they feel safer knowing they will be able to play these games when they upgrade to the Xbox One. Mr. Callahan said users planning to upgrade to the next generation Xbox One must also have been delighted knowing any game they buy now will be playable on the next gen console too.


The Compatibility feature for now is only available for Xbox preview program members. Some of these members may have contributed to Xbox 360 software sales, having tried the games on their Xbox One following the feature's release.

Xbox 360 Compatible games will launch this November for all Xbox One users. Compatible games have now increased to 130 titles, with Microsoft looking to constantly add more.