Xbox Beast Pack Selling Out (News)

Stuart Clarke, GamePro Australia

12/12/2003 14:50:42

Australian retailers are facing the prospect of running out of the Xbox retail bundle ‘The Beast Entertainment Pack’, three weeks short of Christmas.

The success of the Beast Pack - which contains an Xbox, two controllers, a DVD remote and two games (Midtown Madness 3 and Brute Force) - saw Xbox record its highest market share for 2003, reaching 40% of the next generation console market during the last week of November. However, Sony’s PlayStation2 remains clearly in the lead, and by Christmas the PS2 is expected to rack up sales of 1.1 million in Australia.

Thanks to some heavy advertising, The Beast Pack has already sold in excess of 35,000 units in less than one month on sale. If the strong sales trends continue retailers are likely to sell out before the end of the Christmas buying period.

“Consumers are buying up early this year, and are spending up big with entertainment bundles like The Beast,” says Target senior buyer, Scott White. “It’s been quite phenomenal to have this massive spend so early on, we’re expecting big things for December as a consequence.”

In the last two years the video games industry has experienced an incredible upsurge in sales during the late November/December period. Last year, the Christmas retail period accounted for approximately 36% of the estimated $816 million spent by Australians in the sector. (Figures from GfK Marketing Services.)

“Sales of the Beast Pack have exceeded expectations and initial indications point towards us surpassing our record breaking sales during the same time last year,” said David McLean, regional manager Xbox.

The Beast Entertainment Pack is available from leading retail outlets for RRP $369 while stocks last.