Slashdot Mirror
Microsoft Sticks to 10M Xbox Projection
Despite the strong gains of the Wii, and the PS3's sellout, Microsoft is sticking to its claim that it will be the first next-gen console to 10 million units. They're still hoping to reach that goal sometime this year. From the article: "Just how feasible that number is remains open. Microsoft's latest financial report at the end of September revealed that the company had moved 6 million Xbox 360s worldwide. And in his latest analysis, Wedbush Morgan's Michael Pachter said NPD data that Xbox 360 hardware sales in the U.S. were 2.9 million units, averaging approximately 250,000 units monthly for the last six months. Pachter further predicted that 750,000 Xbox 360 hardware units would be sold in November, and between 1.5 - 2 million units in December, a conservative estimate assuming that PS3 supply levels remained consistent throughout the month leading up to Christmas." That's of course not the case, as PS3 supplies have been low. The article goes on to point out they still may squeak this out; the Blue Dragon bundle pack for the 360 is releasing in Japan this week. Preorders for the system have been selling out, and demand in that market is high for the Xbox 360 for the first time since launch.
I was doing the arithmetic a couple of days ago and realized that, if Microsoft and Sony both meet sales projections, Microsoft will have an 8 Million unit lead worldwide. This lead would mean that Sony would have to sell (about) 333,000 more PS3 systems than Microsoft sells XBox 360 systems for the next 2 years to catch up to Microsoft; in order to lead in all regions almost all these sales would have to come from North America and Europe. Until the PS3 matches the sales of the XBox 360 they will have difficulty getting exclusive game development for the system making it very difficult to sell systems.
- Wii: 1,203,618
Of course, they don't state how or where they get their information.I don't reply to Anonymous posts; if you have something to say to me, identify yourself or I won't reply.
...shortages of Cell processors because IBM's server (which utilize the chip) are selling like hotcakes...
Loading...
Ten million is considered important because analysts have said that the first system to ten million sales will be the top next generation console. This is based on there being a certain point of no return where a console simply has so much momentum that nearly every third party developer makes games for it. Analysts point to the PS2 becoming dominant right after it sold 8 million consoles to justify this. Of course, analysts are often wrong, but fifty million is way too high for the point of no return. Considering no non-first place console has ever sold more than fifty million consoles, you are only saying 'whoever is the dominant console will be the dominant console'. There is a point before that, just like in a race, where one can say 'wow, that one is so far ahead and has so much momentum that the only way they will lose is if something goes horribly wrong.' Whether that is ten million or thirty million is anyone's guess but fifty million is the finish line.
Nintendo's standard warranty is one year. With the Wii if you register it you also be an additional 90 days so you are covered for 15 months.