"Following the release of its earnings report, Microsoft held a conference call with analysts in which it downgraded shipment projections on the Xbox 360. During the company's CES keynote address, Microsoft touted a total-systems-sold figure of 10.4 million. In a press release the next day, the company's interactive entertainment business corporate vice president Peter Moore sent out a press release stating that the company was on track to have shipped 13-15 million Xbox 360 systems by the end of June. During the conference call today, however, Microsoft CFO Chris Liddell changed that target to 12 million systems sold. " http://www.gamespot.com/news/6164755.html?tag=latestnews;title;0 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wow, 12 million shipped by June..... Maybe it isn't so outrageous to say the XBOX 360 is under 9 million in system sales.

Wow...to MS's ability to trick its fanboys into believing its lies so easily.

For the quarter, the Entertainment and Devices division posted an operating loss of $289 million, slightly greater than the $286 million loss it sustained over 2005's holiday quarter. -------------------------------------------------------- Ouch. I'm glad to hear Moore talk so much about making the XBox line profitable as a whole. But jeez, losing 280 million bucks every holiday quarter... That aint pretty. No doubt Zune launching is a big part of it at this point, but that division has GOT to start turning a profit. Funny to see the responces at GameSpot, with some people thinking this is rosy news.

I have to say if they are really going to ship only 12 million by June that will be bad news. 12 million shipments in 20 months in far from impressive. Microsoft may be giving a conservative estimate so they blow away the numbers. If this is true Microsoft will only be shipping 1.6 million consoles over the first six months of this year. By June, PS3 and Wii will have shipped at least 6 million consoles, probably more in the case of the Wii. I think it is obvious that Microsoft are planning a June/August release of the .65 nm console at a lower price. This is good news for people like me who don't have a 360 yet. However it isn't an excuse for the low sales for the first half of this year.

wow i thoink microsoft might be tryin to lower their forecast numbers intenitionally just to play it safe but if they only ship 12 million thats bad news for them they will have to lower their price to keep ps3 and wii sales numbers down... if that happens its sad for ms

Heres a quick sales guess for June month ending..... XBOX 360-----11 million Wii---------------7 million PS3--------------4 million

3 guesses as to the low number - 1. They are stopping production of the current Premium and Core systems at some point between now and June. 2. They are going to be stockpiling systems for a price cut with the new models at some point after the June quarter. 3. They are using Jedi Mind Tricks to boggle the minds of Nintendo and Sony fanboys. I really dont see how, aside from a shortage of the new 360s, that it could sell that poorly. This is because of all the games coming out that'll do well worldwide (Crackdown, GRAW 2, Mass Effect, and the many other good q1/2 games). Remember, in the June-Aug shipment numbers last year, MS stated they only shipped 0.9m units....This was because they were saving up 4.4m units for the holiday quarter. IMO, MS is going to cut expectations for the first 2 quarters (why Im not sure), so when the August-December time rolls around, and we get a price cut 360 v2 with GTAIV and Halo3, we'll see about 8m units shipped in the 2nd half of the year. 20m units by the end of this year shipped (sold or not, who knows). Just a few highlights for the 360 in 2006 - 360 had 4 million sellers - Gears of War, Madden 06, Ghost Recon and Oblivion, compared to Halo and Ghost Recon 1 for the Xbox in it's first year (actually GR1 only had 900k if I remember right). This number doesn't include RSV and CoD3, nor CoD2. CoD2 was a 1.3m+ unit seller, and CoD3 and RSV should reach 1m this year total. Thus far, the 360 is doing 100% better business in Japan this year to date. If those numbers hold, we could see the 360 actually beat the first Xbox's numbers in only 26 months. Despite not having complete charts for December, the 360 had the 2nd best year in MS history for software sales - next to 2004 with Halo2. Should the Dec. chart ever get games below 70k, we should see it get nearly 21m s/w units for the year. Again, 20m units shipped this year. With Halo3 coming out, a price drop AND GTAIV, the 360 could break 35m or even 40m units of software this year in the US alone. Very very very high, but do-able. Halo3 and GTAIV should get no less than 6m units between the both of them this year. That doesn't include other guarenteed million sellers in Crackdown, Madden 08 and maybe even GH2.

Everybody seem to be forgetting one big point, ms only shipped 1.5m for the same period in 2005. They shipped 4.4m though in this qaurter we're discussing 2006. And they lost almost the exact same money, yet shipped 3x as many systems. Not even to mention Zune and increased 360 warranty cost probably nicked them for more dollars this time. So they're losing (most likely) at worst, 1/3 as much per 360 as this time last year. Probably less when you figure Zune and the warranty losses. It's possible ms coiuld ship as few as .5m the Jan-March Q. They said inventory is high and the 6 month plan is only 1.6. So it'll be interesting to check how much their losses go down when they report in three months. I also agree, they'll most likely price drop after they go to 65nm. By then they should be in the black per system (before the price drop).