Microsoft: Kinect Sells 2.5M Worldwide In First 25 Days

Microsoft announced today that Kinect, its new 3D-camera-based Xbox 360 controller, has sold 2.5 million units worldwide in its first 25 days of retail availability. The new sales numbers suggest Kinect is maintaining the sales pace it saw immediately following its launch, when Microsoft moved an estimated one million units in just ten days of U.S. availability and five days of European availability. The new figures also include Japanese sales made since the hardware's November 20 launch there. Tracking firm Media Create reports the Kinect saw a "quiet launch" in that country, selling only 26,000 units in its first weekend on sale. Mid-November launches for Kinect in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and other countries also played into the new sales numbers, though precise sales figures for those regions weren't immediately available. “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 Don Mattrick, Microsoft's president of Interactive Entertainment Business, in a statement. In a September interview with Gamasutra, Microsoft Xbox Product Director chief Aaron Greenberg predicted the Kinect would sell three million units worldwide through the holiday season. That sales target for the hardware was later increased to five million units through the end of the year, a mark Microsoft seems set to meet if current sales rates continue.