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Posted: Thursday, 10 November 2005 9:35AM

Microsoft betting on big Xbox 360 sales - hits store shelves on November 22.

Andy Lindenhauer Reporting
Tech Writer

Microsoft Corp. on Tuesday said it expects to sell as many as 3 million Xbox 360s in the first three months after its launch -- a strong start in its battle to dominate the market for next-generation gaming consoles. Some big retailers in the United States have stopped accepting early orders for Xbox 360. Microsoft will be the first of the three major companies to launch a new console when the Xbox 360 hits store shelves on November 22. Sony Corp.'s PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Co. Ltd.'s Revolution each are expected sometime later in 2006. Microsoft is aiming to sell 2.75 million to 3 million Xbox 360 units in the first 90 days after the launch date, Xbox Chief Financial Officer Bryan Lee told an investors' conference in New York. The company set that target nearly two weeks after trying to play down industry expectations. At its latest earnings announcement, it warned that initial Xbox sales might not be as high as some in the gaming industry have expected. But analysts said the new 90-day sales figure was probably still low, given that the Xbox 360 will not have a direct competitor this Christmas and that it will be accompanied by a rich line-up of games. "The 3-million-unit number that Microsoft quoted today is extremely conservative," said Rochdale Research analyst David Eller. Lee also said that sales of the new consoles, games, peripherals and online gaming subscriptions should total about $1.5 billion in the same period. "In GameStop stores, the reservation process is closed," said Chris Olivera, a spokesman for GameStop Corp., the biggest U.S. video game retailer, adding that advance orders at GameStop's recently acquired Electronics Boutique stores were due to close "relatively soon." Best Buy Co. Inc., the No. 1 U.S. electronics chain, said on its Web site that it had stopped taking orders for the Xbox 360. The figures released on Tuesday are "a good signal about the overall health of the business," Microsoft's Lee said in an interview ahead of a presentation at the Harris Nesbitt Media & Entertainment Conference.

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