Microsoft said yesterday that its next-generation Xbox 360 video game console would go on sale in Europe at the start of December. The launch will follow its North American launch just before the US Thanksgiving holiday kicks off the shopping season.
Microsoft said that the sleek, concave, white Xbox 360, which boasts high-resolution graphics and wireless controllers, would be released in Europe on December 2nd and in North America on November 22nd.
It launches in December 10th in Japan, the world's second-largest game market.
The software giant aims to take the lead in the $25 billion (€20 billion) video game market from Sony, which was first to market with a current generation console. Sony's PlayStation 3 will debut in the spring. Microsoft has not yet said how many Xbox 360 units it plans to ship, but Wedbush Morgan Securities video game analyst Michael Pachter projected that Microsoft would have at least two million units ready for sale in the United States and Europe.
"In the US, they'll sell out at 1.5 million right away. They won't last a week," he said. He expected 500,000-700,000 consoles ready for in Europe.
Microsoft vowed that it would not be second this time around and plans to have 15 to 20 games ready at launch, with 25 to 40 ready by the end of 2005, Xbox chief Robbie Bach told a conference on Wednesday.
Microsoft plans to sell separate high-end and "core system" Xbox 360 bundles in the US and Europe. The high-end package includes the new console, a wireless controller and other accessories as well as a detachable hard drive needed to play certain game titles written for the original Xbox and sophisticated games. It will cost about $400 in the United States, $100 more than the Xbox 360 core system.
The video game industry is a mainstream entertainment industry, rivalling Hollywood in its ability to create new franchises. First-day sales of blockbuster video games like Microsoft's Halo 2 regularly beat movie opening-day revenues, although video game revenue falls off much faster.
Although Xbox competes almost evenly with Sony's PlayStation 2 in the US, in Japan it runs a distant third behind Sony and Nintendo's GameCube.
Microsoft had sold 470,624 Xboxes in Japan as of August. This compares with Sony's 18.14 million cumulative PS2 sales, and Nintendo's 3.8 million GameCube sales, according to Famitsu, Japan's leading game magazine.
"The Japanese market is the most important key for the Xbox's global strategy. Microsoft is committing fully to its success in Japan," Yoshihiro Maruyama, general manager of the Xbox division in Japan, told a press conference. "We will continue to make as much effort as we can to make the 360 successful in Japan."
Analysts say that, in Japan, Microsoft would do well to match Nintendo, whose Revolution console is due in 2006.
