Xbox CFO Estimates Initial Xbox 360 Sales

According to remarks made by Xbox CFO Bryan Lee at the Harris Nesbitt Media & Entertainment Conference in New York, Microsoft is currently expecting 2.75 million to 3 million Xbox 360 worldwide unit sales in the first 90 days of sales, with a total of $1.5 billion in revenue over hardware, software, peripherals, and Xbox Live subscriptions in the same period. The console goes on sale on November 22 in North America, with European and Japanese releases shortly afterward. Some previous analyst estimates had indicated that there might be an initial shortage of Xbox 360 units, with UBS Securities analyst Mike Wallace predicting that 1.5 million console would be available on shelves worldwide in 2005, and while Lee's comments don't contradict this, they do indicate that shortages will not exceptionally affect Microsoft's sales estimates. In fact, Microsoft's current hardware sales target is for 4.5 to 5.5 million consoles before June 2006, and sales of this magnitude would make that figure very reachable. Nonetheless, some observers have pointed out that, due to the non-staggered nature of the Xbox 360 launch, availability of the console in each individual territory may still appear very limited to consumers. Recent concern over Xbox 360 availability was spiked by comments from Microsoft CFO Chris Liddell to news agency Reuters. While not giving precise details, Liddell commented: "The analysts were expecting more of a launch spike than we were," saying that he expected a "more gradual ramp toward" meeting revenue targets. Whatever the disagreement about the angle of the "ramp", these specific figures help to clear up any confusion.