Microsoft: Over 1 Billion Next-Gen Consoles Will be Sold

"Most industry experts think the next generation will get upwards of about 400 million units."

Microsoft believes there will be over 1 billion lifetime sales of next-generation consoles, and is also hoping to break the 100 million sales mark for Xbox 360s in the next five years.

In an interview with OXM, the company's senior vice president of Interactive Entertainment Business Yusuf Mehdi explained that the consoles' broad multimedia focus would help them transcend the sales figures traditionally seen by consoles.

"Every generation, as you’ve probably heard, has grown approximately 30%. So this generation is about 300 million units," he shared. "Most industry experts think the next generation will get upwards of about 400 million units. That’s if it’s a game console, over the next decade.

"We think you can go broader than a game console, that’s our aim, and you can go from 400 million to potentially upwards of a billion units. That’s how we’re thinking of the Xbox opportunity as we go forward."

As it currently stands, the PlayStation 2 is the best-selling console of all time with 155 million units shipped, though the Nintendo DS is a close second with 153.87 million units sold. At the end of last year it was reported that the PlayStation 3 has now surpassed the worldwide shipped total of Xbox 360; the former has moved 77 million units, compared to the 76 million of the latter.

Despite this, Mehdi went on to say he's hopeful the Xbox 360 will break the 100 million unit sales mark within the next five years, and confirmed that the company has a number of ideas to help make this happen.

"We believe over the next five years we can break a 100 million unit installed base," he explained. "That’s something we’re shooting for, it’s not a financial plan as such, it’s just rough numbers if you will.

"To sell another 25 million, half of those will probably come from replacements, but half will come from new buyers. And the way we’ll break into those segments is by hitting new price points, getting new classes of entertainment to come with the Xbox, and breaking into new customer segments. So you’ll see the Xbox 360 continue to exist, even as we launch the next generation Xbox One."