December was the last we heard of the lifetime sales of the next generation of consoles in France. We were given the figures 270,000 for the Playstation 3 and 500,000 for the Xbox 360. According to the French newspaper Les Echoes, the Playstation 3’s lifetime sales have since doubled.

Microsoft announced in December that they had sold 500,000 Xbox 360s in France since the console was released, and Jeux France filled in the gaps for the PS3 and Wii, placing them at 270,000 and 1,100,000 units sold respectively.

It is now been divulged that Jeux France’s estimate for PS3 sales were either inaccurate, or that the PS3 has sold more than the same amount in the holiday period.

According to Les Echoes, who reported Microsoft’s sales announcement, the PS3 has sold 563,000 units, compared to the Xbox 360’s 589,000 as of this month. Although the Xbox 360 leads in these numbers, Microsoft’s console was released over a year before Sony’s offering. These numbers are supposedly from the Gfk Institute, suggesting that Sony’s price drop considerably narrowed the gap during the holiday season.

It’s surprising that this could happen so soon, but with a statement from SCEE’s vice president George Fornay, this jump in sales is explained:

By selling, on average, three times more PS3 than Xbox 360 a week, it took precedence over Microsoft

Always defiant, Microsoft responds with the fact that the Xbox 360 still leads in lifetime sales:

Sony is in catch-up mode, but we are still the market leader, according to our data, even in France.

After the price drop, Europe has really taken to the Playstation 3, barring the UK, and with sales like they are in France, Les Echoes claims that the PS3 will double the Xbox 360’s sales in the coming weeks. I’m not so sure about that.

Source: Xbox Mag