Is the launch of Microsoft’s Kinect platform delaying an overdue console refresh?
Well, Xbox product director Aaron Greenberg believes the 360 (which launched in 2005) and accompanying Kinect controller “easily” has five years left in its life cycle.
“We do think that this generation is unique. We’re treating the launch of Kinect as an entirely new platform launch, as almost a new generation. For us that does extend the product life cycle,” Greenberg told Gamasutra.
“[Yes], we’re five years in. We think we have another good five years-plus, but that remains to be seen – but easily there’s another five years’ life.”
Meanwhile, top MS exec Don Mattrick told the Wall Street Journal that Kinect would likely propel the company to have its “biggest holiday [season] ever.”
Indeed, according to Mattrick, Kinect will easily eclipse the industry’s three million unit threshold by the end of the year.
“Mattrick said Microsoft is pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into marketing and advertising campaigns for Kinect’s launch,” explained Juro Osawa of the WSJ.
“In the US alone, 30,000 retail locations will sell Kinect on the launch day and about 7,000 of those retailers will open at midnight.”
It should be noted that the Xbox 360 weighed in as the top-selling US game console in August at 357,000 units – outselling both Nintendo’s Wii and Sony’s PlayStation 3 by a wide margin.
