The release of a new peripheral results in somewhat complicated sales numbers and data, since it’s difficult to figure out exactly how much of an effect the addition of the device added to sales of the console itself.
Luckily there are people like industry analyst Michael Pachter, who make a living deciphering the numbers to give us the straight facts. And facts are what’s important here, considering how much mud has quietly been thrown between Microsoft and Sony in the lead-up to the holiday shopping season.
Sony took the gloves off first, stating their belief that the Kinect was far more limited, and that in some cases, wouldn’t be able to give players the same experience as the Move. After all of the name-calling, it seems that the public has had the last word.
The big players over the holiday season weren’t just the extra devices themselves, but the PlayStation Move bundle and the Xbox 360 Kinect bundle. We knew they would do well, but the sales of each will likely surprise even the most hardcore fanboys. According to Pachter, the numbers are already painting a very clear picture:
The discrepancies don’t end with hardware, and while you might expect the software numbers to follow the same trend, they most certainly do not. Pachter sees the most telling results in the software sales, and it seems that Microsoft should be patting themselves on the back for their selection of launch titles:
The top two Kinect titles in question are Dance Central and Kinect Sports, as Microsoft’s Aaron Greenberg recently tweeted that the two games had each managed to sell over one million copies in the US alone. We’re not surprised that fans embraced Harmonix’s dance title, since we concluded that the game was a must-buy for those picking up a Kinect.
Kinect Sports could be seen as mirroring the success of Wii Sports Resort with that console’s launch, but a million copies sold is nothing to scoff at.
It’s hard to calculate exactly what Microsoft did to draw such amazing sales numbers, but it’s clear that somewhere along the line they made some great decisions. Sony will have to concede this round of the fight to their opponent, since their lackluster first month sales never rebounded in the way they had hoped.
Sony has a major challenge on their hands, and will need to get busy designing games if they want to keep the Move from going the way of the EyeToy. Taking one look at how Microsoft plans to expand the device’s uses, and the hacks that have already been created, it seems that Sony is in for one heck of a fight.
Maybe they’ll start putting less time into advertising, and more time into building up a serious catalog of games for the hardcore. We certainly hope that’s the case, since that ultimately means better games for everyone.
Your move, Sony.
Source: IndustryGamers, Joystiq
