Xbox 360 console sales were expected to increase with the launch of Kinect, but I must admit I was a bit pessimistic. I just couldn’t see people who don’t already have an Xbox 360 forking out for one and then the Kinect itself which is over £100, plus games, but then again there are bundles on offer and it is close to Christmas, plus some lucky people have money to burn.
In Japan the Kinect has been a huge boost for Microsoft, almost tripling sales of the 360 console.
Kinect arrived in Japan on Saturday 20, just one day before the end of the weekly hardware tracking period, but in one day helped lift sales from 2,686 units to 7,083, even though no games made the software top 20.
But it’s not all good news for Xbox, earlier this week, a major Japanese electronics retailer said Kinect was “off to a pretty rough start” in the country, selling around “one-fourth” the units PS Move is managing.
Here’s a look at the hardware sales in Japan, as you can see Playstation are dominating, strangely with their portable console the PSP way ahead of the rest of the hardware, and PS3 is hanging in second place.
Hardware chart (previous week’s sales):
PSP: 96,601 (40,328)
PS3: 29,058 (21,114)
Wii: 27,851 (39,308)
DSi LL: 21,836 (18,711)
DSi: 20,550 (13,994)
Xbox 360: 7,083 (2,686)
DS Lite: 1,904 (1,752)
PSP Go: 1,816 (2,727)
PS2: 1,255 (1,233)
Will this be the story everywhere else? increased Xbox sales and PS move way outselling Kinect
Which have you bought? and why?
Source: CVG
