Microsoft will have around 300,000 of its new Xbox 360 games console available for its European launch on Dec. 2, a Microsoft executive said in an interview published on Sunday.
Industry analysts’ estimates of 300,000 Xbox 360s available at launch “were not far removed from reality”, said Chris Lewis, the Microsoft executive responsible for the Xbox in Europe, in German weekly financial newspaper Euro am Sonntag.
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Xbox 360s sold out in many U.S. stores after the launch there on Nov. 22 and are still in short supply, with the console selling at a premium to its $400 retail price on Internet auction sites.
Lewis said it was possible the console would sell out at its European launch too.
The console is the first new non-handheld machine in four years from a major manufacturer, and Microsoft aims to deliver up to 3 million units within three months of launch.
Rivals Sony and Nintendo aim to release new consoles in 2006.
