Sunday, December 12, 2010

Kinect crushing Move, do sales really matter?

Both Sony and Microsoft (and Nintendo, though Wii's are almost irrelevant now) are both deep into their motion control console BATTLE! And overall Sony has sold more than Kinect but given that Sony had an enormous head start (release date for Playstation Move was September 15), I think it is fair to say that overall, Kinect sales are totally demolishing that of Move's.
Kinect sales since launch: 2.5 million in just under a month.
Move shipments since launch: 4.1 million though we are still unsure as to how many of those 4.1 million have actually sold.

It was anticipated that Kinect would most definitely outsell Move, as new concepts generally do attract a lot of interest, however in the end I'm questioning whether sales actually matter in the long run. Of course the whole point of a business is to sell the most products and to make the most money but in the long run maybe Kinect will come back to hurt Microsoft.
















Here's why:
The one area where the Xbox is better than other consoles is the number and quality of the shooters available on the platform. Obviously Kinect, will only bring Kinectimals (shown above) and childish games and no shooters (at least no quality shooters) of any description.

Xbox users are mainly hardcore gamers and very little are casual gamers or children and the catalogue of family games on Xbox is almost non - existent. You can argue that the Kinect will open up a new market for the Xbox allowing more casual gamers to get into the Xbox 360 making the Xbox a more versatile and 'everyone - friendly' console, serving both core gamers and casual gamers therefore intruding the Wii's market and also competing heavily with the PS3.

Ummm....

However, given the popularity of the Kinect many game developers may flock to providing games and making money out of the Kinect and spending less time developing quality games for the core gamers on the Xbox. If this does indeed happen, which I believe is a distinct possibility then Microsoft could potentially be losing a huge portion of their loyal users. Also given that the Playstation Move is capable of providing hardcore motion control games (shooters, fight games and what not), for core gamers who are craving motion control, the PS3 will most definitely be the console of choice.

So, the overall point is, maybe it is better to be great at one thing, and not just good at a couple of things.That as a brand often it is better to demonstrate more focus than to try to appeal to a large audience. 

If my predictions are correct, then the Xbox platform will leave much to be desired for core gamers, and stuck in between providing for both casual and core gamers, developers may leave the casual gamers feeling a little lacking as well. Sony who have shown incredible focus in providing predominantly for core gamers are able to provide a more cohesive and well rounded experience for their target audience, which may well be the ticket to the success for the Playstation.


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