It's never easy to hit a moving target, but there appear to be a million gamers moving around as the result of the early success of Microsoft's (Nasdaq: MSFT) Kinect.
The world's largest software company announced that a million Kinect systems -- the $150 camera-based motion controller that hit the market two weeks ago -- have been sold in its first 10 days of availability.
This naturally bodes well for Mr. Softy as we turn our attention to the telltale holiday shopping season.
Microsoft had already bumped its year-end target from 3 million to 5 million units, but I was skeptical. Sony's (NYSE: SNE) PlayStation Move controller was cheaper and it didn't seem to make much of a rumble. Industry sales still stumbled the month that Move came out.
It's going to be a November to remember, though. Between Microsoft's Kinect and Activision Blizzard's (Nasdaq: ATVI) record-setting release last week of Call of Duty: Black Ops it seems as if the video game metrics will post a positive month that has been a rare sight since early last year.
Kinect's push is encouraging. The $150 controller does include a game, but no one pays that much for a single bundled diversion. The million Kinect owners -- which may be 5 million by the end of next month, according to Microsoft -- will collectively be buying millions of new Kinect-ready titles.
I've been bearish on the video game industry for some time, but I wouldn't stand in the way of diehard gamers in the near term. Even GameStop (NYSE: GME) -- the video game retailer that will have a hard time remaining relevant in the digital future -- is positioned to have a great holiday quarter.
You don't have to take that from a cynic like me. We'll hear from GameStop itself on Thursday.
My long-term concerns remain. Microsoft also claims that 25 million Xbox Live members are spending an average of 40 hours a month on their multiplayer network. This is obviously exciting for Microsoft, but it also means that purchased games -- such as Black Ops -- have longer playable lives. In other words, it's still going to be a tough market for anything short of the blockbuster tent-pole releases.
Did Microsoft issue a self-serving press release yesterday? Does professing Kinect's early success become a self-fulfilling prophecy as gamers straddling the fence now hop on since the platform is clearly viable for both consumers and developers?
The answer's irrelevant. Kinect buyers are now a moving target -- in every sense of the word.
What do you think of Kinect? Share your thoughts in the comment box below.
