Microsoft looks like it might have a hit on its hands for the 2010 holiday season: the company has announced that it has already sold more than 2.5 million of its Kinect motion sensor systems for the Xbox 360 game console. That translates to 100,000 units a day, and puts Microsoft on track to meet its goal of selling 5 million Kinect units during the holiday season.
“We are thrilled about the consumer response to Kinect, and are working hard with our retail and manufacturing partners to expedite production and shipments of Kinect to restock shelves as fast as possible to keep up with demand,” said Microsoft’s president for interactive entertainment Don Mattrick, in a statement.
Microsoft says the Kinect system is now available at more than 60,000 retail locations in 38 countries. The Kinect system is priced at about $150 on its own, and Xbox 360 units bundled with Kinect are available for about $300 and $400.
The Kinect system enables players to control Xbox 360 games by moving their bodies; the motion sensor system translates movements into game control commands. Kinect doesn’t work with just any game, however: titles must be specifically coded to support Kinect. So far, popular Kinect-enabled titles include sports and dance games. (See Digital Trends’ Kinect review for more details.) The Kinect controller has already been hacked to enable support for other software and on other devices; Microsoft has recently voiced support for developers pushing Kinect in new directions. Microsoft has also indicated it may explore offering Kinect data to advertisers, such as indications of how many people are in a room and potentially enabling advertisers to tailor ads to users based on what users are wearing.
