Xbox 360 still on track to reach 10 million sales in 06

Microsoft's chief financial officer believes that the company is still on track to sell 10 million Xbox 360s by year end.

The ten million target has been something Microsoft set from very early on in the life of the Xbox 360, and is a figure which it sees as a very important milestone for the install base of the console. Back in March, Microsoft executive Steve Ballmer said that "In every other generation, the first guy to 10 million consoles was the number one seller in the generation."

Microsoft's latest financials report that six million Xbox 360 consoles were sold worldwide as of September 30, and speaking at a recent NASDAQ conference, Microsoft's chief financial officer, Christopher Liddell, said: "We also believe we can sell 10 million Xbox 360 units by the end of the Christmas season."

There's no doubt that the first console to reach the ten million install base will be the Xbox 360, but failing to do so by the year end would be a blow to Microsoft, and would certainly give its rivals some ammunition in the console wars.