Xbox Addict

Xbox 360 to remain vibrant for years to come

While the Xbox One will likely receive the bulk of attention at E3, Microsoft has something big planned for the current-gen Xbox 360 that it hopes will sell an additional 25 million consoles according to statements from two different Microsoft executives Friday.

Microsoft Game Studios executive Phil Spencer told Gamespot that the company has a "huge" Xbox 360 announcement planned for E3 in June.

"I think the [Xbox 360] is going to be very vibrant for many years. In fact, we have a huge [Xbox 360] announcement for E3 that I keep wanting to talk about, but I can’t," Spencer said. "I think it will surprise people. I loved what we did last year with Minecraft; bring Minecraft to the box; six million units later it’s kind of a beast. I think there’s a lot of life in the [Xbox 360] for years to come."

Meanwhile, senior vice president of Interactive Entertainment Business Yusuf Mehdi tell OXM UK that the company expects the Xbox 360 to keep selling over the next few years.

"We believe over the next five years we can break a 100 million unit installed base," Medhi said. "That’s something we’re shooting for, it’s not a financial plan as such, it’s just rough numbers if you will. To sell another 25 million, half of those will probably come from replacements, but half will come from new buyers."

So what could be the big announcement for the Xbox 360? Microsoft insider Paul Thurrott previously predicted that Microsoft would reveal a smaller version of the console code-named Stingray that would retail for $99. This is something that Thurrott still insists will happen at E3.

If Microsoft plans to sell what amounts to 8 million consoles a year over the next five years, an ultra-cheap console that would directly compete with the like of Apple TV and Roku would be a start.