You are here: silicon.com > Hardware > PDAs

Playstation 2 wins Christmas race

Sales beat Xbox and Gamecube...

By John Oates

Published: 19 December 2001 15:15 GMT

Sony has maintained its lead in the American games console market despite competition from new launches by rivals Microsoft and Nintendo.

Sony's Playstation 2 recorded sales of 962,000 between 11 November and 8 December compared to sales of 934,000 units for Microsoft's Xbox and 602,000 for Nintendo's Gamecube - launched on 18 November.

The figures suggest that Sony is holding onto its lead in the market, despite media attention lavished on the Xbox.

But Sony has the advantages of backwards compatibility, a large installed base, more games and it's had plenty of time to get ready for Christmas, traditionally the busiest time for console sales.

Software titles for all three consoles have also seen strong growth.

These first US sales figures came from NPD Intelect and were reported in the LA Times.

Add comment

Print story

Email story

RSS

Sony, you are the weakest link: Anne Robinson reveals PS2 flaws

Game over for Microsoft Xbox?

Gates talks a good game at Xbox launch

Microsoft says Xbox sales on track

Xbox: NOT this year's Buzz Lightyear

In silicon.com

Commentary

silicon.com Dear silicon.com... ZX Spectrum nostalgia, Mac attack, tag a bag… Reader Comments of the Week

Steve Ranger Editor's Blog: Home computing from Acorn, Amiga and Amstrad, to the ZX Spectrum Nostalgia 2.0...

Latest News

Windows Mobile v BlackBerry in server showdown

Holograms on handsets by 2010

iPhone: Beware the wi-fi security threat

Ubuntu Linux goes mobile

Gazing into the technological future

Tech-savvy workers to make IT decisions in future

Jobs

Unix/Linux Systems Administrator/ London/ World Tech Leaders

All candidates must be enthusiastic about online console games. You must be able to setup and configure game servers in accordance with requirements ...

C++ / Linux Engineer 40,000 - 50,000 London - Software House

The range of software and mobile games are some of the best available today. As this is a project "in progress", the applicant will be required to be ...

VC++ Software Engineer, Based in Bristol, Salary Negotiable

My client have an opportunity for a Visual C++ programmer to design and develop software tools which will be used by the World's leading console ...

Special Report Focus

CIO50 2008
The silicon.com CIO50 2008 profiles the most influential and innovative tech chiefs in the UK across all industries and organisation size, from the biggest FTSE100 companies to high growth dot-com start ups and the public sector. The list was voted on by the UK CIO community and a panel of experts. Find out more in our latest special report.