US: Microsoft confident as spend on 360 beats rivals

News

Ben Parfitt Mar 14 2008, 9:57am

Despite its February hardware sales defeat, platform holder points out that the most money was spent on its machine

Microsoft’s response to NPD’s February sales figures may have been comparatively muted, but its confidence ahead of the release of Rockstar’s GTAIV is still clear to see.

A statement from the firm read: “Xbox 360 remained in a supply constrained situation in February.

“The situation is improving and we are confident consumers will soon be able to find the Xbox 360 SKU they seek, in time for the launch of Grand Theft Auto IV, which we expect to be one of the biggest titles of the year with huge impact on the Xbox 360 platform.”

Microsoft also pointed out that a total of $332 million was spent on the Xbox 360 in February – way ahead of the $235 million spent on PS3 and the $283 million spent on Wii.

It adds that 360’s installed base still leads in the territory. 9.6 million machines currently sit in US homes, compared to 8.1 million Wii’s and 3.8 million PS3s. Though, of course, Microsoft’s machine has been on the market for considerably longer.