Microsoft announced last week that it has sold 1 million Kinect for Xbox 360
units worldwide in 10 days and is on pace to hit 5 million by the end of the year. The announcement came a week before the biggest selling day of the year, Black Friday, and in the wake of increasing momentum for Xbox 360, which led U.S. video game console sales for the past four months (Based on NPD Group’s U.S. video game industry data).
“We are appreciative of the response we have seen from consumers that has culminated in sales of more than 1 million units in the first 10 days on the market for
Kinect for Xbox 360,” said Don Mattrick, president of the Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft. “This is a great start to the holiday season, and we will continue to work with our retailer partners to keep pace with high demand and deliver against our plan to sell more than 5 million Kinect sensors worldwide by the end of this year.”
Before the Kinect launch, Microsoft raised its worldwide sales forecast from 3 million to 5 million sensors sold by year-end. Kinect launched in North America on Nov. 4, followed by Europe on Nov. 10, and will land next in Asia (Nov. 18) and Japan (Nov. 20). By this holiday, controller-free games and entertainment will reach more than 60,000 retailers in 38 countries with up to 17 Kinect games available.
“We have seen tremendous excitement from customers for
Kinect for Xbox 360,” said Chris Homeister, senior vice president and general manager of the home entertainment group at Best Buy. “There were lines of customers at our stores all over the country on the night of the Kinect launch, and thousands more are trying it for themselves in our stores every day. It’s no surprise Microsoft has already surpassed 1 million units sold, and we expect Kinect to be one of the must-have gifts at Best Buy this holiday.”
For Xbox 360 consumers worldwide, Kinect provides a unique way to access and interact with entertainment. With the wave of a hand or the sound of a voice, consumers can play games, stream music, watch HD movies and live ESPN sporting events, and engage in video chat.
Microsoft also recently announced that the more than 25 million Xbox LIVE members have spent more than 1 billion hours on the service a month, an average of over 40 hours per member. In addition to Xbox 360 console momentum, and the ever-expanding service and content library of Xbox LIVE, Microsoft released franchise games such as “Halo: Reach” and “Fable III” to hordes of devoted fans this fall, as well as announcing that Xbox 360 will be the first console to launch add-on content for all “Call of Duty” titles through 2012, helping drive industry software sales.