Xbox 360: One game system to rule them all
The first time around, Microsoft Corp. wanted to establish a beachhead in the video game business. Now, with its much anticipated Xbox 360 console, it wants to rule that $25 billion global market.
The world's largest software company aims to break even in the first year or two after it starts selling the Xbox 360, the successor to the first-generation Xbox, as it tries to knock rival Sony Corp. from its position of market leadership.
Analysts have estimated that Microsoft had operating losses of more than $4 billion from the first Xbox, which it introduced nearly four years ago.
In an interview with Reuters in Tokyo on the eve of one of the industry's biggest trade shows, Microsoft Chief Xbox Officer Robbie Bach said the advanced console and the lineup of games for it would give the company an edge over Sony.
As of June, Microsoft had sold nearly 22 million of its original Xbox consoles -- fewer than one-fourth the number of PlayStation 2 units sold by Sony. Nintendo Co. Ltd.'s GameCube is the third biggest seller in the console market.
