The Xbox 360. How long is it through its life-cycle?

Microsoft’s sales performances with the Xbox 360 games console continues to impress. Not only is it still selling well but it generally outsells its main competitor, the Sony PlayStation 3, on a regular basis. Despite this impressive performance, how long can its retain this dominant position?

Although the Xbox 360, which was released in late 2005, came out only four years after the original Xbox it appears that we may have to wait much longer this time for a replacement. We are heading towards the consoles fifth anniversary with yet no information on its potential successor, dubbed by many as the Xbox 720.

Speaking at the CES electronics show recently, Microsoft senior director of Xbox product management David Hufford said that they are not rushing the next generation console as the Xbox 360 has a lot more time left. He quoted as much as five years yet to run, meaning we are only half-way through the products life cycle.

Judging by the way sales are going, he certainly has a point. It is also worth mentioning that these impressive sales figure have been achieved alongside a poor and well publicised reliability issue termed the RROD. Despite this, Microsoft’s and the Xbox 360’s reputation seem to have survived remarkably well.

What the success of the Xbox proves is that headline grabbing specifications don’t equal sales. Reasonable prices and great games do. Sony would need to almost give away free ps3’s in order to catch the Xbox now.

The Xbox’s popularity is also sure to get a boost when the revolutionary control system dubbed Project Natal makes its way to market. In fact, this is one of the developments David Hufford specifically mentioned. This should help Microsoft increase the lifespan of the Xbox 360 by a number of years to come.