David Reeves, the President and Chief Executive Officer of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE), has gone on record to state that the company’s PlayStation 3 console will overtake current lifetime sales of the Xbox 360 in Europe by summer 2008.
Speaking to trade website MCV, Reeves claimed that sales of the PS3 have already surpassed those of Microsoft Corp’s next-generation console in territories including France, Spain, Italy and Germany.
“In December we sold just over a million PlayStation 3s during the month”, he said. "That’s across all PAL territories and that’s a sell-through figure.
“About 20-22 per cent of that figure was sold in the UK alone. We’re very happy with the performance of PS3 in the UK.”
“We don’t often mention the competition, but I will give you some interesting data: In terms of installed base in some of our major markets, such as France, Spain, Germany and Italy – plus some distributor territories in smaller markets like Switzerland – our current cumulative installed base is now higher than Xbox 360”, added Reeves.
“It has not yet reached that in the UK. But the team here expect to overtake the installed base of Xbox 360 across all PAL territories in late summer. It’s also worth mentioning that last week we outsold Xbox 360 in PAL territories by a ratio of three to one.”
The PS3 launched across Europe in March 2007, with Xbox 360 releasing over a year in advance in November 2005.
Source: MCV