While advanced orders account for all 300,000 units initially available, Microsoft says it will have 1.5 million Xbox consoles available to US shops before Christmas. The company is spending $500 million in advertising and promoting the Xbox.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Kunitake Ando, President of Sony, said that the biggest threat for Sony is that the Xbox could change the games industry’s lifecycle. Traditionally, explains the FT, consoles sell for five years, which gives the manufacturers enough time to recoup hardware losses from software profits. Mr Ando said Sony could cope with a reduction in the cycle to three years, in which case it would aim to release PlayStation 3 earlier than planned.
The Xbox is released in Europe in March 2002. The expected price is £299.