Xbox 360 leads PS3 by 1m in Europe

Xbox 360 currently has a combined lead over PlayStation 3 of around one million lifetime sales across five key European territories - the UK, France, Germany, Spain and Italy.

That's according to GfK Chart-Track data seen by Eurogamer that shows like-for-like sales of console hardware across October and November.

The installed base totals suggest that Sony is catching up on Microsoft, which launched Xbox 360 over a year earlier than PS3.

But following a price cut in September, Microsoft's figures have jumped and the platform holder can be confident of holding its lead into the New Year.

Earlier this month, Sony Europe president David Reeves told MCV that PS3's installed base was 300,000 bigger than Xbox 360's "in PAL territories", which also includes countries outside Europe, like Australia.

On the same day, Microsoft claimed its "biggest ever sales month" in Europe for November, declaring a 124 per cent improvement year-on-year.

"Xbox 360 has sold more than seven million consoles in Europe since its launch in November 2005," the platform holder said at the time.

Sony declined to comment on the GfK Chart-Track figures when we contacted the company late last week.

Update 20.41 GMT: Just to clarify, the figures we've seen refer to Oct and Nov sales, but also show lifetime installed base figures, which indicate the one million lead.