Peter Moore, Microsoft's vice president in charge of marketing, claims that the company should be able to "push" 10 million XBox 360 units in just over a year. Speaking at the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA) event in London, Mr. Moore made some bold claims regarding Microsoft's plans for the XBox 360 console, claims which seem to be supported by analysts.
It was about four years ago, when the original XBox launched amidst heated debate and criticism and had trouble reaching the 1 million sold mark in its first 12 months. But now analysts are backing up Moore's bold claims stating that if the console launches globally in November, as Microsoft claims, for USD 299, as has been suggested, the 6 month lead it will have over major rival Sony should give the Redmond giant an initial sales advantage helping it reach the 10 million mark within its target time-frame of 12-16 months.
This impressive figure however, as described by analysts Kagan Research, will be mostly a result of the overall rise in console sales as Sony is still expected to grab the lion's share of the market. The latest prediction suggests sales will reach USD 16 billion in 2007, a 61 per cent increase over the 2004 sales of USD 9.9 billion. About 54 million U.S. households are expected to own at least one console by 2010, and most will own both a fixed and a portable system, according to the report.
Sony's PS3 is still expected to lead next-generation videogame console sales but this time Microsoft's Xbox 360 will narrow the gap to come within 28 per cent of the PS3 installed base.
The news, always according to Kagan research, is not as good for Nintendo and its Revolution console which is predicted to trail behind the other two competitors, struggling until 2010 for a decent market share.
