Microsoft did OK in 2008. But there’s always room for improvement! So it’s with a grim sense of predictability that Microsoft are predicting they'll sell more 360s in 2009.
The prediction comes from Xbox Asia's Alan Bowman, who thinks the console - buoyed by cheaper prices, improving performance in the Japanese market and the onset of Chinese New Years - can do better in '09 than it did in '08.
That's for his local markets, anyways. In terms of the global market, Bowman says that, with money tight, more people will want to stay at home and be entertained. And that means they'll buy video games, something we've already seen holding true for Bowman's home country.
Bowman also stresses that, despite economic woes, falling share prices and mass layoffs elsewhere in the industry, Microsoft don't have any major cost-cutting moves in place, and will continue to invest in games development:
Game development is the core of what we do. Microsoft is a software company by heart, and we will continue to work with our partners and by ourselves to develop new software for the market.
Microsoft eyes '09 market-beating Xbox sales [Reuters] [Image]