Microsoft Releases Worldwide Xbox Sales Figures

Following its previously discussed financial results yesterday, Microsoft has released further information on worldwide sales of the Xbox console. The company's new figures reveal that the Xbox has sold 19.9 million copies worldwide since launch – 13.2 million consoles in North America, 5.0 million consoles in Europe, and 1.7 million consoles in the Japan and Asia Pacific region. In addition, Microsoft's European division has released statistics indicating that the European Xbox market share for 2004 was 29.5 percent, increasing 7 percent from the 2003 calendar year, also claiming that the Xbox was the only platform to see year-to-year growth during the fourth quarter of 2004, as well as the full calendar year. In concert with recently bullish news on the Xbox Live service, Microsoft is clearly trying to paint the picture that its machine is gaining ground on its competitors as this generation of console hardware winds down, although in terms of installed base, the PlayStation 2 is still dominating, since world-wide shipments of the PS2 reached the 80 million mark during December.