US: Microsoft predicts February sales loss

Ahead of the release of the official North American NPD sales figures for February, Microsoft has conceded that its Xbox 360 was most likely outsold by Sony’s PS3 last month – though only thanks to supply restrictions.

Speaking to Reuters, Greenberg claimed: "We definitely expect we will trail in February as a result of our supply constraints. By April, we will be in a very healthy inventory situation.

"We still think we have a great value, that we have significantly better value than Sony. Every month we’ve actually been in stock we’ve outsold them by a two to one margin."

If this proves correct, it will be the second month in a row that PS3 has outsold Xbox 360 in the region. However, the assertion that the situation will be resolved by April is surely closely linked to the release of Rockstar’s GTAIV on April 29th.

Wedbush Morgan’s Michael Pachter recently made a similar prediction, stating:

We estimate February sell-through of 300,000 Wii’s, 250,000 Xbox 360’s and 260,000 PS3 consoles. For purposes of comparison, The simExchange prediction market forecasts 450,000 Wii, 285,000 Xbox 360 and 270,000 PS3 consoles sold in February.

Our console sell-through forecasts reflect our belief that Wii, DS and Xbox 360 hardware continued to be supply constrained during the month. With the launch of several high-profile games in March, we expect supplies for the consoles to increase.”