The gaming console stories so far this year have been dominated by headlines about the Wii, which still is selling out in some places and is going off store shelves faster than the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3.
But today’s headlines belong to Microsoft’s Xbox 360, which is the first of the three big consoles to have sold 10 million units in the U.S. Of course, of the three, it also was released first, in late 2005. The PS3 and the Wii came out in 2006.
Key quote: “History has shown us that the first company to reach 10 million in console sales wins the generation battle,” said Don Mattrick, a Microsoft senior vice president who heads the company’s Xbox business.
Maybe. The only problem is nothing seems poised to stop the Wii’s momentum right now. The Wii already is the best-seller among the three consoles worldwide. And with 8.8 million units sold in the U.S., it won’t be long before it surpasses the 10-million unit mark.
Lagging behind is the PS3, which hasn’t yet sold 5 million units in the U.S. But Sony’s apparently feeling defensive about that 10 million figure. It is predicting it will sell 10 million units worldwide this year. That seems possible, though Sony has to be disappointed with the overall sales of the PS3.
At least one observer predicts the current crop of gaming consoles collectively will hit their sales peak next year.
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