Kinect sells 2.5 million in 25 days

[TheChefO]

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2010-11-29-kinect-sells-2-5-million-in-25-days

"With sales already exceeding two and a half million units in just 25 days, we are on pace to reach our forecast of five million units sold to consumers this holiday."

So far it's on pace with 100k selling per day! Not bad considering all the negative press this device has been getting from traditional gaming media outlets.

I'll still be shocked if they can hit that 5 million mark by the end of the year. Although, the more I look around and talk to my circle of friends and acquaintances, the more interest I see picking up in Kinect as a Christmas gift target.

I borrowed my roommates Kinect to bring over to my parents house for Thanksgiving to see what they thought of it. Surprisingly, they both loved it! Even my mother who never played a videogame in her life was enjoying it a lot. She negatively asked how much it was assuming it was "$500", but when I told her it was $150 she was intrigued. Until she found out you need an xbox too as it was just an add-on. That soured her and my father a bit on it. I think if they can get a bundle down to $250-$200 they will be flying off the shelves in much the same way Wii was.

Still, impressive numbers so far.

 

[AlphaWolf]

Not certain I agree with the 'negative press' comment. I do think the ad campaign (and cross marketing) has been superbly executed.

 

[RobertR1]

The user impressions and word of mouth being very position certainly doesn't hurt it either.

 

[djskribbles]

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2010-11-29-kinect-sells-2-5-million-in-25-days



So far it's on pace with 100k selling per day! Not bad considering all the negative press this device has been getting from traditional gaming media outlets.

I'll still be shocked if they can hit that 5 million mark by the end of the year. Although, the more I look around and talk to my circle of friends and acquaintances, the more interest I see picking up in Kinect as a Christmas gift target.

I borrowed my roommates Kinect to bring over to my parents house for Thanksgiving to see what they thought of it. Surprisingly, they both loved it! Even my mother who never played a videogame in her life was enjoying it a lot. She negatively asked how much it was assuming it was "$500", but when I told her it was $150 she was intrigued. Until she found out you need an xbox too as it was just an add-on. That soured her and my father a bit on it. I think if they can get a bundle down to $250-$200 they will be flying off the shelves in much the same way Wii was.

Still, impressive numbers so far.

I think gaming media outlets have little to no effect on the casual market (which is what Kinect targets). I've seen the most advertising for Kinect out of any product I've ever seen. With a ridiculous marketing budget and the slogan "you are the controller", I'm not all that surprised that Kinect is a success out of the gates. The question is, will it last?

 

[Tap In]

Fad.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Fad.

Which isn't a bad thing at all depending on how long it lasts. I'm sure Bandai don't regret the bucketloads they made from the Tamagotchi when it was a fad. Or Nintendo while the Wii was up in that rarified air that all producers of consumer goods dream of.

The important thing is whether it has hit fad status, I'm not convinced it has yet. And if it does, how long does it last, and what level does it settle to once the fad is over.

Either way 2.5 million is a goodly number, but it's quite obviously supply limited. At least in the US.

At Amazon the price for a new unit continues to go up. 216 USD for the add-on, 380 USD for the 4 gig bundle, and a whopping 539 USD for the 250 gig bundle. Newegg, Target, Bestbuy, Walmart and Gamestop are all out of stock. And some of those are going to bundle only sales of the console when they get it in. So you can't buy a Kinect unit without also buying 2-3 games. It's also sold out in every store in my city. So it's certainly showing indications that it could ignite a consumer firestorm like the Wii did. High desirability combined with not enough supply leading to increased demand fueling more buying. It's that last bit that's going to determine whether it shoots into Fad or not.

I wouldn't be surprised if MS could have moved 3.5 - 5.0 million units (or More) in the first 25 days if it had been able to stock up enough units for launch.

Just out of curiousity went and looked at Move availability. Looks like good stock on starter bundles (99 USD) and console bundles (399 USD), but some price gouging or stock issues with the move controller itself (71 USD from Amazon partners).

Both Sony and MS look like they'll do pretty good with their respective controller add-ons. Starter Bundles and console bundles not selling out for Playstation Move makes it seem like most buyers are existing PS3 owners with a Camera.

Regards,
SB

 

[AlphaWolf]

Which isn't a bad thing at all depending on how long it lasts. I'm sure Bandai don't regret the bucketloads they made from the Tamagotchi when it was a fad. Or Nintendo while the Wii was up in that rarified air that all producers of consumer goods dream of.

The important thing is whether it has hit fad status, I'm not convinced it has yet. And if it does, how long does it last, and what level does it settle to once the fad is over.

Regards,
SB

yep if MS can milk 2 or 3 years out of this 'fad' they'll be pretty damned happy.

 

[Mboojigga]

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2010-11-29-kinect-sells-2-5-million-in-25-days



So far it's on pace with 100k selling per day! Not bad considering all the negative press this device has been getting from traditional gaming media outlets.

I'll still be shocked if they can hit that 5 million mark by the end of the year. Although, the more I look around and talk to my circle of friends and acquaintances, the more interest I see picking up in Kinect as a Christmas gift target.

I borrowed my roommates Kinect to bring over to my parents house for Thanksgiving to see what they thought of it. Surprisingly, they both loved it! Even my mother who never played a videogame in her life was enjoying it a lot. She negatively asked how much it was assuming it was "$500", but when I told her it was $150 she was intrigued. Until she found out you need an xbox too as it was just an add-on. That soured her and my father a bit on it. I think if they can get a bundle down to $250-$200 they will be flying off the shelves in much the same way Wii was.

Still, impressive numbers so far.

My mother is 57 and my father is 65. My mother preordered the 250GB bundle with 5 games a week prior at Gamestop. This was all before I made it aware to her that I have been beta testing Kinect in our home. They came over and played it. All week they had question for my brother and I about Live features until launch. Bottom line is my mother was at the midnight launch picking up their order. They have been having a blast with it every since and now enjoy Netflix, and Kinect Video with my wife and kids at home and with me while I am deployed. Word of mouth has simply caught on and Oprah helped too The last time I saw my mother get excited about video games is when she played the Sim series on the PC and when she brought home the Atari to play Centipede when I was a child.

 

[eastmen]

I have 3 friends who don't touch video games trying to have me get them kinects since they can't find them anywhere.

I was able to get my gf's two friends 4GB bundles since they will only use it for kinect and I got one of my friends a 250gig bundle. My buddy who manges a gamestop is trying to grab one or two as they come in but they are getting so few.

Whats really nice is everyone keeps giving me money when i get them. So an extra $25 here and there is pretty good for doing basicly nothing. Keeps my buddy and I in movies and popcorn this holiday season !

 

[Rodéric]

Anyone said this is a lie and only the number of SHIPPED units ?

MS tries to make it sell by pretending it's a new trend and having people follow it, it's not.
I don't expect it to take off either, not until good titles are released using that device.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Anyone said this is a lie and only the number of SHIPPED units ?

On this little bit of the board we take shipped numbers to mean sold pretty much, as that all the info we can get. Calling it a lie is a bit strong.

 

[Mboojigga]

Anyone said this is a lie and only the number of SHIPPED units ?

MS tries to make it sell by pretending it's a new trend and having people follow it, it's not.
I don't expect it to take off either, not until good titles are released using that device.

Even if it was shipped to retailers that is still a SOLD product. What do u consider "taking off" exactly? It sold 2.5 in 25 days. MS stated by Jan they project to sell 5 mil.

Whenever anyone buys a 360 the retailer scans a bar code and the info is sent to MS Each 360 has a unique one. MS is able to verify the date of purchase for both 360 and the Kinect with the bar codes. It is why you don't need a reciept when you send it in under warranty to be repaired. When you give MS the serial number over the phone for example, they know what date and store it was purchased from. That is how they know how many is sold to consumers.

 

[scently]

Actually the 2.5m is sold through to consumers. Aaron Greenberg tweeted it.

 

[mrcorbo]

Anyone said this is a lie and only the number of SHIPPED units ?

MS tries to make it sell by pretending it's a new trend and having people follow it, it's not.
I don't expect it to take off either, not until good titles are released using that device.

As per MS's press release the 2.5 MIllion is worldwide retail sales over it's first 25 days on the market.

 

[Gerry]

Anyone said this is a lie and only the number of SHIPPED units ?

MS tries to make it sell by pretending it's a new trend and having people follow it, it's not.
I don't expect it to take off either, not until good titles are released using that device.

That's a fairly preposterous comment. Kinect is selling very well; that much is an absolute 100% fact. I think it's pretty self-evident that it'll continue to sell well over the Christmas period.

Whether it'll continue to sell well long term is the question.

 

[Rangers]

Anybody have any idea what iPad sales are this time of year? Would kinect be outselling the iPad as MS boasted it would?

Also, 2.5m is great, but the ebay price is not high which just makes it still not feel like some super popular thing.

But I think since the hardware is profitable MS is looking to sell all they can, hence good supply.

 

[kagemaru]

Can't believe the mindshare this thing has. Over thanksgiving weekend, while visiting my parents, a Kinect commercial runs on the TV and my mom perks up telling me she wants a Kinect and they were talking about it at her work. I can't believe my mother, who doesn't even know what the Wii is, has been having conversations about Kinect with her friends at work. She couldn't even figure out how to work Crazy Taxi on the Dreamcast because pushing two buttons was "too much".

Congrats MS.

I'll still be shocked if they can hit that 5 million mark by the end of the year.

Don't sales usually go up by a good margin in December over November? Even if sales keep steady, they should still reach 5 million sold since they sold 2.5 in 25 days.

yep if MS can milk 2 or 3 years out of this 'fad' they'll be pretty damned happy.

I hope this happens just so we can get Kinect v.2 launching with the next xbox.

 

[AlphaWolf]

Anybody have any idea what iPad sales are this time of year? Would kinect be outselling the iPad as MS boasted it would?

Also, 2.5m is great, but the ebay price is not high which just makes it still not feel like some super popular thing.

But I think since the hardware is profitable MS is looking to sell all they can, hence good supply.

I very much doubt that the ipad is doing 100k units a day simply because of the price point being >$500, but Kinect isn't going to catch ipad in total sales anytime soon.

As for the Ebay price, that's a factor of availability. MS is shipping tons of them, there's little need to pay a huge premium.

 

[TheChefO]

On this little bit of the board we take shipped numbers to mean sold pretty much, as that all the info we can get. Calling it a lie is a bit strong.

Hey Shifty, actually, this is sold through to customers, not shipped. That's what makes it pretty impressive in my book.


@kagemaru,

Yes sales normally go up in December over November, but the system launched in November and with a huge advert budget. Normally a system's sales would go up in December over November, but those two factors lead me to believe there was a rather large blip of sales at or around launch and continued again for Black Friday.

Word of mouth will continue to sell units, but I'm not sure it will be at such a brisk pace.


@AlphaWolf,

The negative press has lately softened quite a bit, but g4tv didn't even cover MS at e3 this year. Their reaction was THAT bad to Kinect. Which is quite odd considering Wii doesn't get that much hate. Regardless, it isn't an opinion most people outside the gaming world have been exposed to and the sales are brisk.

Side note - My roommate is one to always watch g4tv and had been excited for kinect/natal prior to e3. After e3, it seemed g4tv was in a full hate campaign against kinect and it soured his opinion of kinect to the point of jointly bashing it and the concept and execution without ever even trying it. Until a friend of ours brought over his. A day later my roommate bought one.

@Tap In,

All jokes aside, I really don't think this is a fad and Ms is treating kinect as a huge opportunity to research and improve computer/human interaction. Kinect in one form or another is here to stay ... and likely integrate into many devices outside gaming.

 

[wco81]

iPad was supposedly a couple of million a month in the summer/fall months.

It is a higher-priced item, even if you get a 360 and Kinect in a bundle, so there should be a bigger addressable market.

But in the long term, it may have the same fate as many Wiis collecting dust (whereas there are some bullish forecasts for tablets in the next 3-4 years). Or the exercise equipment and gym memberships that people get for Xmas -- used a lot for the first few weeks in the new year and then dropped.

Will Call of Duty types of games support Kinect or Move? Or will MS try to push more party or exercise games, to draw the casual and non-gamer market?