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In advance of the imminent console releases by Sony and Nintendo, Microsoft this week launched new high profile Xbox 360 games for the holidays: Viva Pinata (supposedly the “most important Xbox 360 release of the year“) and Gears of War, a much more likely candidate for being the Xbox 360 franchise game. Meanwhile, Microsoft is sticking by their Xbox 360 forecast:
Peter Moore, vice president of Microsoft’s entertainment and devices division which oversees Xbox, confirmed the company’s expectation that Xbox 360 shipments would reach 10 million by the end of 2006, and 13 million to 15 million by the end of its 2007 fiscal year.
The software company’s fiscal year ends June 30, 2007.
In October, the company said it had shipped 6 million consoles worldwide.
That’s 4 million additional this holiday quarter as Sony launches the PS3 and Nintendo launches the Wii. Sony, at least, will have product shortages, but bear in mind that the old PS2 still outsells the “new generation” Xbox 360 and that only 900,000 Xbox 360s were sold last quarter. Time will tell, but as I have said before, this one is Sony’s game to lose and Nintendo may yet be the spoiler for both of the high priced big guns.
