NPD: Xbox 360 enjoys its biggest ever North American December

In a carbon copy of the festive sales success

the firm saw in Europe

at the end of 2008, Microsoft is celebrating both a record month and record year for Xbox 360 in North America.

Xbox 360 sold 1.4m units in December according to NPD stats, with sales climbing 38 per cent week-on-week through the period and bettering PS3’s 726,000 unit sales. Third party games sales for the platform also shot from $298m in November to $504m in December.

Microsoft also points out that to date Xbox 360 at generated more money at North American retail for third party publishers than both PS3 and Wii combined.

Our goal for 2008 was to reach new audiences by bringing ground-breaking games and entertainment to Xbox 360,” senior vice president of Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment Business Don Mattrick stated. Looking forward, new waves of innovation will extend our position as the global leader in interactive entertainment.”