CEO Steve Ballmer took the stage this evening at CES Microsoft keynote speech. One of the first things that was on his agenda was to discuss the success of the company’s Xbox 360. According to him, the Xbox 360 has sold 39 million units since it launched back in November of 2005. However, what was more important was the number of software that has been sold, since the original Xbox debuted in 2001.

Microsoft has tallied the total number of games sold since the historic launch almost ten years ago and it stands at about 500 million, which is almost the same number of people living in North America. Obviously, that number would translate well when it comes to how much cash flow came into the seattle-based company, and apparently that would equal to about $20 BILLION.

It’s an easy case to prove that Microsoft entering the gaming industry was a good thing, even with the criticism it received when they first announced the original Xbox during the first half of last decade. Although, even with those great numbers, the company is more than likely still in the red. For the longest time, for every system sold with the original Xbox, Microsoft was loosing quite a bit of money since the debut of the first Xbox — a trend that would later continue when the Xbox 360 launched four years later. Thankfully for Microsoft, this was the plan, and they are not looking to make a quick buck out of their console; but they anticipated well before they unveiled the Xbox that this would be a long term goal, which is still to be the king of the videogames…. They obviously still have a long way to go — but don’t count them out just yet.