MS Sells 5m Xbox 360s

And that number is set to triple in the next year.

The end of the work year has arrived for Microsoft, but before it can run off to spend time at the pool and work on those Gears of Wars muscles, Microsoft has to show us its report card.

The highlight of Microsoft's year-end financial documents is that the Xbox 360 has sold around 5 million units worldwide, which is right where the company said it would be at this point.

You may remember that Microsoft said it was on track to ship 4.5-5 million systems by the end of June, and it was so confident when things were going well that it even upgraded those estimates to 5-5.5 million.

Nearly 2 million of those Xbox 360s were sold this past spring. That's about the same quarterly rate that the console has been selling since its debut last November, but now there are no hardware shortages to hold things back.

The Home and Entertainment Division that houses the Xbox 360 reported a loss for the year, primarily, says the company, because of the financial burdens that accompanied the launch of the console and because of the balance-tilting performance of Halo 2 in the year before.

Microsoft's next goal is to get as many Xbox 360s sold as possible before the PlayStation 3 launches in November. The company says it should have around 10 million sold by then and 15 million by this time next year.

And if you were curious why Microsoft has been so quick to drop the Xbox, here's a thought: While the Xbox 360 is currently sold at a loss, Microsoft is confident that as component prices drop it'll start making a profit - at least by the end of the console's life. By contrast, the company is still losing money on every Xbox it sells.

Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo Games