Move/Kinect shortages questioned

Supplies of both Xbox 360 Kinect and PlayStation Move are not as short as either Microsoft or Sony would have you believe, US analyst Michael Pachter has claimed.

Last week Sony stated that it had misjudged the demand for the stand-alone Move controllers” and that we have a catch-up problem in all three territories that will last until January or February”.

In addition, Microsoft claimed earlier in the month that any consumers who had not yet pre-ordered Kinect would be unlikely to get one before Christmas.

However, Pachter is buying none of it.

I think both companies would very much like for consumers to believe that their devices are highly sought after and difficult to obtain,” he told IncGamers. That usually works to spur demand.

Sony shipped 2.5m units in the US and Europe, and their salesare nowhere near that level, so I’m not sure how they can reconcile thefact that units shipped far exceed units sold.

Sony are trying the same strategy asMicrosoft with Kinect, making sure that there are plenty of bundles, butcontrolling supply of the standalone controllers.

I do think that Microsoft is managing supply a bit better, and keeping standalone Kinect supply tight to make sure that there is a steadysupply through Christmas. They have shipped a lot of console bundles,to ensure that the eBay price doesn’t get above $300 for the standaloneunit, but supply of the standalone remains tight.”