Kinect Sells Terribly in Japan

Greg Tito

PR for Dungeons & Dragons
Sep 29, 2005
12,070
0
0
Kinect Sells Terribly in Japan



Microsoft's motion sensor only sold 114,000 units in its first year.

Even though the Xbox 360 has sold better in Japan compared to its predecessor, gamers in the island nation generally prefer homegrown consoles like the PS3 and Wii. Microsoft made a huge marketing push to try to win a Japanese audience with Kinect, but, according to results published in this month's issue of Famitsu, the stunts didn't quite work. After a year of sales, Microsoft has only sold 114,000 units in Japan, accounting for about 1 percent of the worldwide Kinect sales of more than 10 million.

Perhaps the lack of sales was due to the absence of a "killer-app" for Kinect. The best-selling game in Japan was Kinect Adventures with 114,000 copies sold (because it was the pack-in title, duh) while the next was Forza Motorsport 4 with 24,900 copies. That means less then a quarter of Japan's Kinect owners coughed up the dough for a second game, which is surprising considering their predilection for dancing games.

Microsoft's sales numbers in Japan for the Kinect are even more depressing when you look at the breakdown month-to-month. The majority of Kinect sales were in Novemeber and December 2010, with figures dropping to as a low as 1,900 sold in September 2011. The full list of sales by month is here:

November 2010: 27,800
December 2010: 43,200
January 2011: 14,800
February 2011: 5,040
March 2011: 3,160
April 2011: 2,100
May 2011: 1,910
June 2011: 3,470
July 2011: 2,980
August 2011: 2,460
September 2011: 1,900
October 2011: 3,333
Novemebr 2011: 1,980


The news isn't all bad for Microsoft though. As of June 2011, only 1.5 million Xbox 360s were sold in Japan in total so having nearly 8 percent of your customers purchase an expensive peripheral is pretty good. In contrast, with 57.5 million Xbox 360s sold around the world and only 10 million Kinect sales (16 percent of Xbox 360 owners have a Kinect), suddenly the percentage sold in Japan is not terrible.

Still, the bigwigs in Redmond hoped Kinect would increase their market share in Japan and that clearly hasn't happened. What does Microsoft have to do to break into the Japanese market? Will the next Kinect bundled with the new Xbox 1492 [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/114388-Kinect-2-Will-Read-Your-Lips] be able to sway them to an American game-playing machine?

Source: Andriasang [http://andriasang.com/comz47/kinect_one_year_sales/]


Permalink
 

Otaku World Order

New member
Nov 24, 2011
463
0
0
Kinect not selling? What a shock! But I'm sure that on-rails Fable: The Journey game will win everyone over. /sarcasm
 

Something Amyss

Aswyng and Amyss
Dec 3, 2008
24,759
0
0
A device that requires like fifteen feet of open space not selling well in an overcrowded culture with small living quarters?

Colour me shocked.
 

duchaked

New member
Dec 25, 2008
4,451
0
0
I was under the impression that most American gaming hardware (and games) don't sell well in Japan
 

Odin311

New member
Mar 11, 2010
56
0
0
Zachary Amaranth said:
A device that requires like fifteen feet of open space not selling well in an overcrowded culture with small living quarters?

Colour me shocked.
Basically what I was thinking. The Kinect needs room. The average Japanese household doesn't have it.
 

Something Amyss

Aswyng and Amyss
Dec 3, 2008
24,759
0
0
Odin_kru said:
Basically what I was thinking. The Kinect needs room. The average Japanese household doesn't have it.
Yeah, I can't even use it. Not that I'm particularly sitting here saying "oh noes, I can't play motion gimmick games!" But the point is, even people with a lot more room than I are having problems. So given a whole country of people with minimalistic space....

Yeah. No mystery here.
 

StrixMaxima

New member
Sep 8, 2008
298
0
0
It's not only the matter of physical space. Microsoft has a terrible business model in Japan, and the people there know it. So, no surprises, there.
 

RollForInitiative

New member
Mar 10, 2009
1,015
0
0
News flash: Kinect fails to sell in country with very limited space on a per-living-quarters basis. Big surprise.
 

Plumerou

New member
Mar 7, 2011
92
0
0
to be honest, that doesnt surprises me, all the people that got the kinect are going to hack it and use it to make internet videos, like only japan can :0!
 

Siege_TF

New member
May 9, 2010
582
0
0
So while the NA game console doesn't sell well in Japan, Japaneese developers are cancelling games or refusing to translate and ship them to North America for being 'too Japaneese'. Words fail me, and I'm good with words.
 

DirgeNovak

I'm anticipating DmC. Flame me.
Jul 23, 2008
1,645
0
0
DVS BSTrD said:
Too bad X-box can't Move more units.
Will you kindly slap yourself across the face for this terrible pun?

OT: I'm not surprised. Xbox doesn't sell at all in Japan. What are the odds Kinect would sell well. Also, gimmick.
 
Apr 28, 2008
14,634
0
0
Zachary Amaranth said:
A device that requires like fifteen feet of open space not selling well in an overcrowded culture with small living quarters?

Colour me shocked.
RollForInitiative said:
News flash: Kinect fails to sell in country with very limited space on a per-living-quarters basis. Big surprise.
Pretty much what they said.

It's basically the reason I haven't bought it. Simply don't have the space.
 

Scars Unseen

^ ^ v v < > < > B A
May 7, 2009
3,028
0
0
I obviously can't speak for everyone in Japan, but the space problem isn't so much that the homes (that I've lived in and visited) aren't big enough; it's that most places are ridiculously compartmentalized with a living room, dining area and tatami room being in close proximity, but all being walled off. I could wish for a home that ditches the tatami and just has a big open area.

Well the last place I lived in had that, but the landlady was a royal ***** that would walk into the place unannounced and yell at us because she thought she deserved more money than was agreed upon.
 

Scars Unseen

^ ^ v v < > < > B A
May 7, 2009
3,028
0
0
Kakulukia said:
DVS BSTrD said:
Too bad X-box can't Move more units.
Will you kindly slap yourself across the face for this terrible pun?

OT: I'm not surprised. Xbox doesn't sell at all in Japan. What are the odds Kinect would sell well. Also, gimmick.
Walk into a Japanese electronics store some time. They love gimmicks. Just not this one.
 

luckycharms8282

New member
Mar 28, 2009
540
0
0
It makes me sad to hear theyve sold 10 million units. I was hoping no one would buy the Kinect and motion sensor gaming would fade away :(

Oh well, I guess if it gets kids and elderly off the couch it's a good thing.