January 20^th, 2003 (12:00am) - Based on industry-standard, independent statistics from research firms Chart-Track and GfK, Xbox the future generation video game system from Microsoft, has established itself as the clear number two player in the region. This makes Xbox the fastest growing debut console ever, against some well-equipped, long-standing competition with a great heritage in this market.

Chart-Track and GfK numbers for the 2002 calendar year indicate that Xbox has well exceeded the million-console mark in the UK, France, and Germany alone. This, combined with strong sales in the rest of the region, places Xbox well ahead of Nintendo’s GameCube. Based on the figures from Chart-Track and GfK during the key retail month of December, Xbox outsold GameCube by a factor of 2:1. This phenomenal result clearly established Xbox as the number-two player in the region heading into 2003.

European gamers showed their support for Xbox in huge numbers with near sell-out sales of the console in the region. The Sega Christmas Pack from Xbox, a limited edition Xbox Christmas offer that included €120/£80 worth of triple-A games from Sega for free, also proved a winner with gamers across Europe. Many stores sold out of stock before Christmas.

"We are pleased that this Christmas was the Xbox-green we predicted," said Neil Thompson, Director of Marketing, Xbox Europe. "Our increasing market share is great news for us. The steady increase in Xbox gamers over the year proves our strategy of offering consumers exactly what they wanted has paid off - a well-priced console, with more power than any other console on the market, a killer games portfolio and a built-in broadband adapter for instant online gaming with Xbox Live. The choice gamers had to make at Christmas was a tough one but the numbers show that Xbox was the first choice for a significant number of people. We are looking forward to seeing our number two position in the market going from strength to strength."

My Thoughts
Damn man as a strong Nintendo supporter I hang my head in shame. Slow but sure Microsoft is proving there’s no power greater than X!

Oh for you PS2 fanboys with the big smiles. Chew on the fack that this holiday season Xbox outsold PS2 also in europe. That might not be a big deal now... but keep in mind next console war Sony won’t have that year head start.

~ditto~