Microsoft: 360 has hit 8 million in EMEA

Microsoft has said that Xbox 360 has sold over 8 million units across Europe, the Middle-East and Africa (EMEA), and claimed this gives it a lead of "more than one million" over its rival, the PlayStation 3.

Although the original release doesn't specifically link the 8 million figure to everyone's favourite double-barreled sales monitor, GfK-ChartTrack, a Microsoft spokesperson has since told us that GfK-CT was the source of all the figures, presumably governed by the press release's explanation for the other references: "Sales figures are Microsoft estimates based upon GfK-ChartTrack data."

It's also worth noting that the EMEA area includes a couple of countries outside Europe itself (South Africa and UAE), but a rival claim from Sony that it was around 300,000 units ahead in PAL territories, also made late last year, would include countries further afield, like Australia. And we do like Australia.

As we reported late last year, Xbox 360 had built up a lead of more than 1 million over PS3 across at least five key territories by this time last month, and Eurogamer has since been told that first-week hardware sales in December were higher than at any point in October or November.

In other words, you can probably trust the numbers, but nobody ever really knows 100 per cent because GfK-ChartTrack keeps them away from the likes of us and you.

For what it's worth, Microsoft's EMEA veep Chris Lewis pointed to September's price drop and retail and publishing partnerships to explain the boost in Christmas 2008 sales, and promised Microsoft would "continue to be committed to offering the right blend of gaming and entertainment experiences at the right price" in "an uncertain economic climate".