PS2 Sales Outpace Original PlayStation's

Officials from Sony have announced that world-wide shipments of the PlayStation 2 reached the 80 million mark during December. This is is distinct from actual sales figures, but considering the stock problems over Christmas, the difference is likely to be negligible. The original PlayStation took an additional four months to reach the same shipment figure in its lifecycle, suggesting that the PlayStation 2 will eventually outsell it and become the most successful single format of all time. Neither Microsoft nor Nintendo have released new world-wide figures for some time, but the installed user base for the Xbox is thought to be around 16 to 17 million and the GameCube around 15 million. However, during his keynote speech at CES last week, Bill Gates did announce that he expected world-wide Xbox sales to hit 20 million by July of this year. For its part, Sony expects to have shipped 85 million PlayStation 2s by the end of March.