Rivals say Sony has opened the door for them by botching the introduction of PlayStation2.
"There isn't that sense that Sony did their launch and delivered a real hard blow," said Robbie Bach, a Microsoft senior vice president.
"I don't think they have much momentum right now."
Sony's backers say the company's one-year head start is too much to overcome.
With "Gran Turismo 3" and "Metal Gear Solid 2," scheduled to arrive in November, the company will sell all the devices it makes this year, they say.
That may mean at least 20 million PlayStation2s sold around the world by year-end, while Xbox and GameCube are just getting started, said Stan McKee, chief financial officer of Electronic Arts Inc, the biggest US video-game publisher.
"I can't see how they will ever relinquish that advantage," McKee said.
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