Next-gen.biz reports that the latest figures have been released by Microsoft and have yet to be verified by official US sales tracker NPD. The platform holder also stated that it is targeting total sales of 12 million 360’s by the end of June worldwide, which would suggest a sales target of 200,000 per month.

For January, Microsoft exceeded that target, shifting 294,000 units – but it could not topple Nintendo’s Wii, which sold 436,000 consoles. Bringing up the rear was PS3, which hit 244,000 sales.

“I do think that we're selling to additional and different customers compared with the Microsoft and Sony consoles,” said vice president of marketing for Nintendo Perrin Kaplan. “We've had an incredibly healthy start and we think there’s going to be a pretty long tail on this product.”

Meanwhile a Microsoft spokesperson added that sales of 360 were up 18 per cent compared with the previous January. Sony will be hoping that PS3 sales continue to pick up as interest builds for the console's software and Blu-Ray capability.