Microsoft managed to sell 10 million Xbox consoles in the United States. Even though on a global level it holds the second place behind Wii, in the U.S. Nintendo is just under 9 million units sold. Worldwide, the sales for the product have almost reached 20 million.

The other players in the U.S. console market also had a good first quarter with the Wii selling 8,8 million units and PlayStation 3 4,1 million.

The sales’ boost has been linked to an increase in the number of Xbox Live subscribers, currently at 12 million. Also, the release of the new Grand Theft Auto IV game influenced the consoles’ sales, as more than 40 %  of the purchases were made in connection with a copy of the game.

Microsoft refered to the milestone as a crucial achievement for the company. After analyzing several other generations of gaming systems and their selling graphics, Aaron Greenberg, director of product management at Xbox 360 and Xbox Live, expressed his strong belief that ”History has shown us that the first company to reach 10 million in console sales wins the generation battle. We are uniquely positioned to set a new benchmark for the industry,” as quoted by Gamasutra. He also added that launching one year earlier was a carefully planned move, part of the company’s strategy.

Microsoft did not make any comments on its sales expectations for the rest of the year and an interesting battle is expected over the next few months with Wii’s continuous popularity rise.