Microsoft has today announced new sales data and claims that the Xbox is now clearly the number two console in Europe. The sales data is based on Microsoft's own results as well as independent statistics from research firms Chart-Track and GfK.

　　In the UK, the Xbox passed the million-console mark during the first week of December, and as of the end of December there were more than 3.7 million Xbox consoles across Europe. By the end of 2003 some 13.7 million Xbox consoles had been shipped worldwide, suggesting that Microsoft is on target to meet its worldwide shipment goal of 14.5-16 million units by the end of its current fiscal year in June.

　　The Xbox enjoyed particularly strong sales over the Christmas holiday period, which Microsoft attributes to a number of value offers at retail and to the release of such games as Project Gotham Racing 2, Top Spin, Counter-Strike, Need for Speed Underground, Rainbow Six 3, and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. In Europe, the attach rate of Xbox software is now 5.2 games per console--a figure that Microsoft claims the Xbox has achieved more quickly in its life cycle than any other current-generation console.

　　Xbox Live, which is now available in 14 European countries, also enjoyed a strong Christmas. There are now more than 100,000 Xbox Live gamers in Europe and almost 750,000 worldwide. The most-played Xbox Live title over the Christmas holiday period was Project Gotham Racing 2, followed by Rainbow Six 3, Counter-Strike, and Top Spin.

　　"We are pleased that so many gamers found it was good to play together with Xbox this Christmas," said Eduardo Rosini, regional vice president of the home and entertainment division at Microsoft. "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 competitively 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. We are looking forward to seeing our number two position in the market going from strength to strength, and we're right on track to hit our worldwide shipment goal of 14.5-16 million units by the end of June 2004. 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 believe that this Christmas has really established Xbox in the minds of European gamers as a choice to PlayStation," added Scott Dodkins, senior vice president of European publishing at Activision. "The success of the Xbox formats of our multiformat franchises, such as True Crime and Tony Hawk's Underground, have managed to surprise even ourselves, whilst exclusive titles like the award-winning Knights of The Old Republic from LucasArts and Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy have proved more successful than we had hoped for. As a publisher we believe that gamers can only benefit from the healthy competition between platforms, and the sales over Christmas indicate that gamers believe that too."