A market research firm known as NPD Group has concluded that nearly 66,000 Xbox One consoles have been sold in Australia within the first 3 days of release. This doubles the number of the Nintendo Wii’s release back in 2006 and any consoles total sales within the first week of release. 

Australians were some of the first to get their hands on the Xbox One, with the console launching on November 22nd. The PlayStation 4 was launched a week later than the Xbox One in Australia and some consider that this may have held an impact on the sales difference. Whilst Sony has commented that the PlayStation 4 has sold over 700,000 units both in Europe and Australia the breakdown has not been specified. The Australian Financial Review noted that Sony’s sales in Australia suffered somewhat due to the company not being able to meet the very high pre-order demand of retailers. 

Michael Ephraim, managing director of Sony Computer Entertainment Australia said that the company are hoping to fulfill the pre-order pledge before Christmas. “It’s been overwhelming,” he said. “I’ve been around since PlayStation One and we still haven’t seen the kind of demand we’re seeing now for PS4. The first weekend sales figures is just the beginning because we haven’t fulfilled all the pre-orders yet. We haven’t been able to completely fulfil the demand as yet but we will. ­Hopefully consumers can buy one.”

Despite early gains for the Xbox One both consoles are likely to outsell their previous next-gen consoles. This is all positive as the gaming industry requires a pick up. Data from the NPD group suggests that the Australian gaming market has declined by 8.8% this year, with $688 million sales value between January and October. Do you think the Xbox One will stay strong in Australia? Let us know what you think in the comments below.