Xbox not a flop in America
Halo sales go into orbit
After Xbox disappointment in Europe and Japan, Microsoft have found reason to celebrate again with the announcement that Halo has now sold over a million copies in the US and Canada. As their press release helpfully points out, this equates to a copy being sold every ten seconds (give or take) since the console's launch last November. European sales of the game are still unknown though, and it is widely expected to tank in Japan when it's released there later this month. What we do know is that so far about 80% of British gamers who bought an Xbox have also bought a copy of Halo - an impressive statistic. "The demand for Halo : Combat Evolved has been incredible from the very beginning", over-enthusiastic Electronics Boutique bigwig Pete Roithmayr is quoted as saying. "It's not only the reason people should own Xbox, it's the reason people should play video games. Halo: Combat Evolved is that good." Microsoft are also celebrating the success of the Xbox itself, which has apparently been selling 25% faster in America than the Playstation 2 did during its first four months on the market. Xbox games have been flying off the shelves in the US as well, with the company claiming a higher attach rate (the ratio of software vs hardware sales) than for any other next-gen console. Of course, the bad news is that the PS2 is currently outselling the Xbox by a significant margin even in the USA, so although Microsoft have got off to a quicker start there than Sony did, they are still firmly in second place in the console war at this stage and falling further behind every week. The real question is if / when the Xbox's weekly sales will overtake the PS2. Related Feature - Xbox is a flop in Europe too
