Microsoft has sold more than 10 million Kinect systems for the Xbox 360 to retailers, the company announced Wednesday.
Kinect, a controller-free gaming system that competes with the Nintendo Wii and Playstation 3 Move, has been selling at an impressive rate since it launched in November.
During the first three months after its launch, this rate was fast enough to earn Kinect the title of "fastest-selling consumer device." According to Guinness World Records, which officially confirmed the record today, Microsoft sold an average of 133,333 units per day between November 4 and January 3.
In an article featured on cnn.com, Microsoft's new motion peripheral is said to have set a new record for its sales. With motion gaming being popularized by the Nintendo wii console, it was only a matter of time before its competitors followed it into the motion gaming market. Sony produced the move motion peripheral, but didn't push as many units as rival Microsoft. The Kinect motion camera has already reached the 10 million units sold milestone, becoming the fastest selling consumer device in history. With sales peaking and Microsoft making major profits, does this help the American marketplace at home?
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Discuss the economics of this article.
As the motion gaming market increases in popularity, the current video game industry will likely see a great change. The industry will see how popular these products are and many other companies will seek to produce products that will sell as quickly. While this may be a good step in technology, this could many other companies out of business over time. Just as virtual gaming as seemingly destroyed manual games, like card battling, this new technology may decrease popularity in older technology dramatically.
Do you think that this system accessory is more popular with families or "hardcore" gamers who play games daily in a more serious manor? I for one have a kinect and had the same problem I had with the Wii, it's boring. I mean it really is cool and fun to play with for the first few days but after that i find its actual uses to be small in number. My question then becomes is this just a fad that hit at a sweet spot during the year or will its sales numbers continue to grow as the time goes on?
Ethan, just as you said, this game is going to become boring after playing a few times. The sales numbers will not continue to increase because other games, such as this, will also come out. Over the past few years we have seen many similar games come out.
Ethan, Microsoft doesn’t care if you like their product, they only care if you buy it. Even if you don’t like it you still bought one, and even if you did like it you’re not going to buy another one just because you like it. The only people buying the Kinect are people that don’t have one. Those people are not bored of the Kinect yet because they haven’t had the chance to play it enough for it to become boring. I have a Wii, and when I first got it I played it non-stop, but I haven’t played it in over a year because I now think it’s boring. But my dad still paid for it, and Nintendo still made a profit. Kids that don’t have a Wii still ask for it for birthdays and Christmas even if their friends that do have Wii’s tell them its boring, and Nintendo still makes an acceptable profit. This is also the future of the Kinect. And the sales of the Kinect may drop in the future, as the sales of most things drop after they have been available for a while, and as they do Microsoft will offer new games, accessories, and updates for the Kinect to help retain sale numbers. I don’t see the Kinect becoming a bust very quickly.
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