Greenberg: Xbox 360 will win Christmas

By Robert Purchese Published 20 October, 2008

"We'll do it on a global scale."

Microsoft bigshot Aaron Greenberg is confident that children will be getting Xbox 360s and not PlayStation 3s in their stockings this Christmas.

And that will be because of nifty price cut manoeuvring, he said, holding up successful September US hardware sales as evidence.

"We expect to continue our price advantage over the PlayStation 3 for a long time," Greenberg told Kotaku.

"And we feel confident that we'll outsell the PS3 this holiday season in North America and in Europe. We'll do it on a global scale."

Microsoft slashed the price of all Xbox 360 models in September, making both the Arcade and Premium units cheaper than a European Wii, which retails for GBP 179.99. The 80GB PlayStation 3, remember, sells for GBP 299.99.

We also recollect that a busy Christmas last year brought Xbox Live to its knees. How will it perform this year? "Hopefully, very well," added Greenberg. "We've grown our team and our infrastructure over the past year."

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (35) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • ZeroAX #1 3 years ago

    pf a sissy's console war once more for second place. bring back the 16 bit era fight to the death for first place please

  • DFawkes #2 3 years ago

    Meanwhile, when asked if the Wii may in fact sell a bucketload more, Greenberg placed his fingers in his ears and said "Lalala! If I don't hear it, it doesn't exist, 360 wins! The Wii is a lie!", before adopting the foetal position and crying.

  • Goodfella #3 3 years ago

    360lol

  • bad09 #4 3 years ago

    I don't care who wins.

    I got my 320 gb rumble (finally) kitted out PS3/Blu, my 360/HD DVD and my PSP (sold the Wii) gaming/multimedia happiness whoever sells more (and no waggle for bad09!)

  • Charlie_Miso #5 3 years ago

    What a scoop!

  • Fab4 #6 3 years ago

    Christmas isnt celebrated 'globally'.

  • BartonFink #7 3 years ago

    Who gives a shit what Greenberg says but you don't have to be a genius to work out that what he says it true though.
    As for no mention of the Wii I am pretty sure they have capitulated on that one by now. That or he is only talking about the current generation consoles ;)

  • woodnotes #8 3 years ago

    "Christmas isnt celebrated 'globally'."

    He doesn't say it is. He says 'holiday season', which could mean anything really. And he said 'on a global scale', which could be a metaphor for everywhere except places that don't involve themselves in the 'holiday season'. Or something.

  • secombe #9 3 years ago

    He doesn't actually mention it 'winning Christmas', only it beating the PS3, that's another Daily Mail-esq Eurogamer headline!

  • rumrum4444 #10 3 years ago




    Microsoft: "-we´re here to win...everywhere "!!!



    JUMP IN !!!!


    .

  • Vandrius #11 3 years ago

    And the carecup was empty.

    Seriously, how many times each year do these tards have to spout this "Haha we will win lulz!!>"

  • Darren #12 3 years ago

    I notice Greenberg has made no mention of the Wii at all because as everyone knows it *will* be the winner this Christmas, not the Xbox 360 and not the PS3! LOL

    But I guess if Microsoft can call second place "winning" then I'm sure Sony will come up with their own interpretation of winner too... ;)

  • Triggerhappytel #13 3 years ago

    I agree with Vandrius; I am so bored of reading this bullshit about the platform holders proclaiming how they will win over one another. It's like they've stepped out of a playground.

    What he is saying might be true, but it doesn't make it any less irritating.

  • kangarootoo #14 3 years ago

    Man, I don't even know what winning Christmas means. I bet Greenberg doesn't either.

    "'Jesus will win Christmas' says God"

  • muscleblade #15 3 years ago

    The 360 will win christmas by having the best games line up, but the Wii will sell the most no doubth.

  • Darren #16 3 years ago

    At the end of the day though, it's about which company makes the most money and I'm betting that will be Nintendo as both the hardware and software were profitable from the very start totally unlike the 360 and PS3 both of which have been making substantial losses on their hardware.

  • Carpathian #17 3 years ago

    "Greenberg: Xbox 360 will win Christmas "

    No. The 360 will win at Christmas. It won't win it as a prize of some sort.

    Blimey - a couple of awards and a few beers and the proofing goes out of the window !

    {walks off muttering to self about standards, Americanisms and dumbing down}

  • moggsy #18 3 years ago

    @ Darren

    MS stopped making a loss on their hardware at a very early stage - certainly within the first year if not the first 6 months.

  • dr_faulk #19 3 years ago

    Big, big words.

  • AaronTurner #20 3 years ago

    "MS stopped making a loss on their hardware at a very early stage - certainly within the first year if not the first 6 months."

    Are you sure that still holds true though? There have been a huge amount of price cuts since then so I'm not entirely convinced.

  • Dizzy #21 3 years ago

    "Are you sure that still holds true though? There have been a huge amount of price cuts since then so I'm not entirely convinced. "

    Yes.. 360 hardware is not losing money (but also not really making any ;)

  • secombe #22 3 years ago

    we feel confident that we'll outsell the PS3 this holiday season in North America and in Europe.

    This is actually what he said, no mention of winning, no mention of the Wii. As I mentioned before, just a Daily Mail/Eurogamer headline!

  • mcmonkeyplc #23 3 years ago

    Dont fuck up live again you newbie wankers!

  • Beano #24 3 years ago

    Will anybody please call this Greeberg fellow and mention a niche console called "Wii" ?

    I'm aware it's hard to find in shops, but a big and important MS guy like that must have heard about it by now...

  • septimus #25 3 years ago

    Of course 360 will beat PS3 this Christmas. There is a credit crunch and Sony need to realise this and take a hit if they want to increase installed user base.

    Does it deserve to win. No.

    Wii will just continue selling a shit load, get played for 2 weeks, then get maybe get used once a month from here on in.

  • Doctor_What #26 3 years ago

    Probably true, yes, interesting, not really.

  • Monkey_Puncher #27 3 years ago

    Baby Jesus will win Christmas!

  • Beano #28 3 years ago

    "Wii will just continue selling a shit load, get played for 2 weeks, then get maybe get used once a month from here on in."

    I own all three "next-gen" consoles and it amazing to me that the Wii still sells like this... what games are people buying?

    I'm a (old) Nintendo fan but it saddens me that there's no new games from them I want to buy.

    Both PS3 and 360 have quality exclusives this holiday which I want to buy... but on Wiii... nothing :(
    Edited by 1 at 20/10/08 @ 11:28

  • secombe #29 3 years ago

    I own all three "next-gen" consoles and it amazing to me that the Wii still sells like this... what games are people buying?

    Maybe, just maybe, some of these people don't have a great deal of time to throw at gaming on one console, let alone 3? I know a few people (and I'm including myself in this) who get maybe 5hrs per week to have a bit of fun on their console. Having grown up with gaming I find the Wii suits my needs now, as it offers the sort of play (quick, entertaining) that I'm looking for now small matters such as house/family/work have come into play.

    If I ever get around to finishing Mario Galaxy there are a good 4 or 5 titles I haven't bought yet that I would love to play.

  • Bremenacht #30 3 years ago

    Does anyone else find news of executives squealing "We're going to win!" boring?

  • Beano #31 3 years ago

    @secombe:

    True reg. 3 console - my point was only that I'm not a Wii/Nintendo hater.

    But even if I only had a Wii, there would not be ANYTHING new to buy. Nintendo's "big" title for Q4 2008 is Wii Music?... really?
    Even for the most casual gamers, this looks very thin.
    Edited by 1 at 20/10/08 @ 12:07

  • Les #32 3 years ago

    What he means is, 360 will not be the biggest loser. He might be right.

  • Les #33 3 years ago

    "MS don't understand the success of the Wii, so they pretend it doesn't exist."

    +1

    And hope that the Wii magic will still work next gen when they copy it with 720... ;)

  • Beano #34 3 years ago

    With NXE avatars it seems to me that they are not waiting for 720 :)

  • Sevens #35 3 years ago

    Great. What a suprising comment made by Mr. Greenberg.

  • stallion185 #36 3 years ago

    Sadly... I think Sony might have to actually start bundling a Wii with the PS3 in order to have good sales this Christmas :p