Xbox 360 beats PS3 to 10 million US sales

Stephen Withers
Friday, 16 May 2008 01:51

Your IT - Entertainment

The PlayStation 3 may have pulled ahead in Europe, but the Xbox 360 still has the lead in the US. Microsoft's console has reached a milestone, but why does the company think that's especially important?

"History has shown us that the first company to reach 10 million in console sales wins the generation battle," said Don Mattrick, senior vice president of the interactive entertainment business in Microsoft's entertainment and devices division.

Worldwide Xbox 360 sales have exceeded 19 million, whereas Sony's financial results show it has sold 12.85 million PS3s. The Xbox 360 went on sale a year before the PS3.

Microsoft is also bragging that 16 Xbox 360 games have recorded sales of at least one million units, compared with just two PS3 titles.

But at least one analyst thinks the high proportion of online users could be key to the Xbox 360's continued success.

"Reaching an installed base of 10 million consoles in the US is a significant achievement and an essential milestone on the road to market leadership," said Billy Pidgeon, research manager at IDC.

"Perhaps more important is the Xbox 360 worldwide online base — 12 million Xbox LIVE gamers is the largest community in the connected console games sector, which represents the greatest growth opportunity in the console market and where Microsoft has been the leader for two generations," he added.