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For over a year now, many reports have been released suggesting two things. The first being that the Microsoft XBOX sold poorly in Europe, and that the Nintendo Gamecube sold extremely well.
Well, it may have been a bumpy start for both the XBOX and the GameCube, but the truth is out there for those who seek to validate the mountain of spew that comes from their Nintendo loyal friends. The bottom line? Last year the Nintendo GameCube sold 1.5 Million units of hardware vs the XBOX's 1.4 Million in Europe. The XBOX is also priced $50 more in Europe. Worldwide, XBOX sales have been spiking since 2 events, the lowering of the XBOX price, and the 2 free game software bundle including with some systems.
However, in the next year, 2003, analysts are projecting the XBOX will overtake the #2 spot in Europe. Sales for the XBOX in Europe have dramatically increased, in part due to its dropped price, and its pre-xmas bundle of 2 Sega Games. Lets not forget XBOX Live, the ability to play high speed XBOX games against others around the world on a state of the art custom network.
Both the XBOX and the GameCube trail the world leading Playstation 2 with it reaching 6 million units sold last year.
In areas such as the United States, the XBOX (despite Nintendos press release ploys) has dominated sales over the Nintendo GameCube. Many estimates place the XBOX sales in the US vs GameCube well over 2 million units. This is in contrast to Japan, where Nintendo has clearly outsold the XBOX by around 1 million units.
With Sony having a jump on both Nintendo and Microsoft for the current and next game machines, once again this places Nintendo and Microsoft is direct competition. One thing to note is that while Sony has maintained their lead in the overall home game system market, both Nintendo and Microsoft have shown to be strong competition. With Sony preparing their Playstation 3 by 2004, and Microsoft already investing highly in their XBOX 2 slated for release in 2005, the PS2 vs XBOX 2 will be more closely poised to compete at a more fair level. By all comparisions, its hard to imagine either the XBOX or the GameCube 1's unseating the PS2 although both of their gaming hardware is far superior to the PS2. With the PS3 also having the jump on the new systems from Microsoft and the GameCube, it is poised for a brief hardware superiority lasting maybe a year over the XBOX and GameCube.
The real truth about these sales figures and future sales opportunities is that no single gaming system fan can be trusted with anything he or she has read regarding one system selling better, or performing better than the other. The past year has disproved many peoples projections and predictions of what would be concerning the GameCube, PS2, and XBOX. One thing I have stood by since the beginning however is that the XBOX has superior hardware to both the PS2 and the Gamecube, and that has stood up. Another conviction I have is that not only does the XBOX pose a real threat to Nintendo, it poses one as well to the Playstation 2. I believe this has stood the test of time as well.
Whats a gaming system without the games? Well, respectivly, the XBOX, GameCube, and PS2 have all won awards for their games, some more prestigious than others. The PS2 still currently has the most games (per installed base) vs the XBOX and Gamecube. The Gamecube has the least amount of games vs its installed base, and the XBOX has the most games vs its installed base. The GameCube and XBOX are close enough in game titles available that in 2003 it could be anyones trophy, but I think time will tell that the XBOX remains the winner.
The Bottom line? The XBOX is selling just fine, very well in fact. Keep an eye on those new recent sales figures coming.
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