Microsoft Sticks To 10mil Xbox Estimates For 2006

With the holidays rapidly approaching, a Microsoft executive has reiterated that it expects to sell 10 million Xbox 360 units worldwide by the end of 2006. Microsoft CFO Christopher Lidell made the comments at the recent NASDAQ analyst conference in London, where the company was presenting details of its forthcoming Vista launch. The Wall Street Journal quotes Lidell as saying "We also believe we can sell 10 million Xbox 360 units by the end of the Christmas season." The number comes with no small significance, with Microsoft CEO telling Fortune magazine in March after Sony's announcement of its delayed PS3 launch: "In every other generation, the first guy to 10 million consoles was the number one seller in the generation. Did we just get an even better opportunity to be the first guy to 10 million? Yeah, of course we did." 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. Microsoft's confidence could be even more well-placed considering this week's impending release of Mistwalker's Blue Dragon for the system in Japan, widely expected to be the first true system seller in by far its weakest region.