Microsoft: Third-party pubs raked in $504 million in Dec.
Hot on the heels of the Xbox 360's impressive December NPD numbers, Gamasutra reports that Microsoft has some other numbers to share. The company touted December as the best month the Xbox 360 has ever had and also stated that 2008 was its biggest year ever, noting that it had sold "more consoles, games and online entertainment experiences in 2008 than any previous year." Outside the Microsoft stable, the company noted that third party publishers pulled in $504 million in December, outstripping the $298 million earned in November. Microsoft told GamaSutra that the Xbox 360 has "generated more life-to-date software sales at retail for third-party publishers than PlayStation 3 and Wii combined."
On the online front, Microsoft claims that the number of Xbox Live transactions increased by 84% in 2008, noting "40 million Xbox Live Marketplace downloads in December alone." It's worth pointing out that the article doesn't mention how many of those downloads were payed downloads.
