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It looks like the underdog is triumphing in the downloadable movie stakes, with the Xbox 360 service reportedly trumping sales of Amazon’s rival service Unbox.
The fact movies can be stored and watched directly from the 360’s hard drive, rather having to burn them from PC to DVD under Amazon’s system, is apparently what’s peaking consumer interest. The option to get certain HD quality movies for only $1 dollar more per download is also proving a big draw for next-gen Xbox owners.
Although no specific sales figures have been released, Variety.com claims Microsoft’s service is one of the few successful forays into digital movie downloading this year.
Older and less commercially successful films are also enjoying something of a renaissance via the Xbox Live service, which has been put down to them being available in high-definition.
Ross Honey, Senior Director for Media at Microsoft’s content and partner strategy group, explained: “If you look at our sales charts, movies like The Perfect Storm, Unforgiven and Swordfish are all doing disproportionately better than you would expect, and the only explanation is that they’re available in HD.“
Only time will tell if Microsoft’s early success with movie downloads can be replicated this side of the pond, as the American giant has yet to confirm when and where it will be launching outside of the States.
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