Announcement
The Xbox 360 was first officially unveiled on MTV on May 12, 2005, on a program called MTV Presents: The Next Generation Xbox Revealed. The show was hosted by actor Elijah Wood and featured a musical performance by the band The Killers. The Xbox 360 was also featured on the cover of TIME Magazine's May 23, 2005 issue.
Detailed launch and game information was divulged later that month at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) as well as demos running on "Xbox 360 Alpha development kits.
Release
The Xbox 360 was released on November 22nd, 2005 in North America, just over four years after the launch of the original Xbox, where it sold out. It was also released on December 2, 2005, in Europe and December 10, 2005, in Japan. This made the Xbox 360 one of the fastest home console successor launches in gaming history.
Complete Launch Dates & Pricing
| Date | Location | Xbox 360 System Price | Xbox 360 Core System Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| November 20, 2005 | Japan | JP¥39,795 | JP¥29,000 |
| November 21, 2005 | Canada United States | CD$499.99 US$399.99 | CD$399.99 US$299.99 |
| December 2, 2005 | Eurozone Norway Sweden UK Latvia Finland Ireland Portugal | €399.99 NOK3395,- SEK3995:- £279.99 Ls320.00 €409.99 €409.99 €409.99 | €299.99 NOK2595,- SEK2995:- £209.99 Ls240.00 €309.99 €309.99 €309.99 |
| February 2, 2006 | Colombia Mexico | COP$1,200,000 MXN$4999 | COP$900,000 MXN$3999 |
| February 24, 2006 | South Korea | ₩419,000 | ₩339,000 |
| March 16, 2006 | Hong Kong Singapore Taiwan China | SG$660.00 NT$13888 | HK$2,340.00 SG$535.00 NT$10888 |
| March 23, 2006 | Australia New Zealand | A$649.95 NZ$799.99 | A$499.95 NZ$499.95 |
| July 7, 2006 | Chile | CLP.329.990 | CLP.259.990 |
| September 25, 2006 | India | Rs.23,990 | Rs.19,990 |
| September 29, 2006 | South Africa | R3699 | R2699 |
| November 3, 2006 | Czech Republic Poland | CZK11900.00 1699.00zł | CZK8999.00 1299.00zł |
| December 1, 2006 | Brazil | R$1,799 (US$899) | not released |
| February 10, 2007 | Russia | RUB15,699 (US$640) | RUB10,999 (US$450) |
| February 26, 2008 | Peru | S/.2249.00 (US$762) | not released |
| October 28, 2008 | United Arab Emirates | AED1,799 (US$490) | not released |
Launch Games
There were a total of 18 launch titles available at the North American launch, 16 at the European launch, and 6 at the Japanese launch.
In North America, the best-selling title at launch was Call of Duty 2, which had an attach rate of 77%. The most successful first-party title was Perfect Dark Zero.
Worldwide, the best overall selling launch title was Call of Duty 2, which has sold over 1.8 million copies in total, followed by Need for Speed: Most Wanted (over 1.1 million units sold) and Perfect Dark Zero (over 700,000 units sold).
| Title | North America | Europe | Japan |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amped 3 | Yes | Yes | No |
| Call of Duty 2 | Yes | Yes | No |
| Condemned: Criminal Origins | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Every Party | No | No | Yes |
| FIFA 06: Road to FIFA World Cup | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Gun | Yes | Yes | No |
| Kameo: Elements of Power | Yes | Yes | No |
| Madden NFL 06 | Yes | Yes | No |
| NBA 2K6 | Yes | No | No |
| NBA Live 06 | Yes | Yes | No |
| Need for Speed: Most Wanted | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| NHL 2K6 | Yes | No | No |
| Perfect Dark Zero | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie | Yes | Yes | No |
| Project Gotham Racing 3 | Yes | Yes | No |
| Quake 4 | Yes | Yes | No |
| Ridge Racer 6 | Yes | No | Yes |
| Tetris: The Grandmaster ACE | No | No | Yes |
| Tiger Woods PGA Tour 06 | Yes | Yes | No |
| Tony Hawk's American Wasteland | Yes | Yes | No |
Launch Sales
Microsoft were unable to build up a sufficient supply of consoles to satisfy the demand at launch which, although it allowed them to launch several months earlier than would otherwise have been possible, led to shortages in North America and Europe.
Sales in North America during the month of launch came to a total of over 325,000 units, and the initial supply of 300,000 to Europe also sold out.
The Xbox 360's performance in Japan however was much less impressive. It sold just over 60,000 units in the first 2 days, but only 1000,000 by Q2 of 2006.
Despite selling out at launch in North America and Europe, Microsoft were forced to lower their 2.75-3 million 90 day target to 2.5 million units.
