Microsoft has revealed that its 360 hardware sales during Christmas 2008 were up 120 per cent in Europe on the same period in 2007.

Speaking to MCV, VP of Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment Business in EMEA Chris Lewis said that the company now enjoyed a sales lead of one million over PS3 in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

He said: “Christmas 2008 was the biggest sales period in the history of the Xbox brand. Sales of the console were more than double over the period a year before, in excess of 120 per cent in fact.

“We’ve had record sales in January too – much better than we anticipated. We’re at over eight million console sales to end of 2008. And according to data from GfK-ChartTrack, we’ve widened our lead over PS3 in EMEA to around a million units.”
Lewis also pledged that the firm would not “turn out the lights” on its marketing blitz, which saw it dominate TV and print last year.

“We’re not dusting ourselves down saying ‘we’ve solved that challenge’,” he added. “You’re going to see us continue to invest in keeping things strong.

“The UK remains one of our strongest markets. We’ve now been consistently ahead of our competition in terms of Sony for a long and sustained period, and we’re going to keep it that way.”