Kinect pre-orders boom

Despite initial scepticism over its price, Kinect looks set to be a big hit.

Retailers are reporting high pre-order numbers for the device, which will be available in November for 129.99 bundled with Kinect Adventures.

In fact MCV understands one large chain has encouraged stores to secure 10 pre-orders for Kinect a day. Sources says they expect advance orders to topple half a million in the UK by launch.

It’s a U-turn for retail. Key voices previously declared sub-100 as the only way to capture Kinect’s target market (MCV 593, 25/06/10). Now these firms are hailing the high price tag as reflective of the product’s playability and appeal to a wide range of customers”.

Grainger Games’ sales director Phil Moore told MCV: The feedback we’ve had so far from our customers is that they feel the price is appropriate to the product.

We have taken a large number of deposits for Kinect already and it is set to become our biggest pre-order to date. This tells us the device’s appeal has not been affected by the price point.”

The Hut Group’s head of business development Sarah Jasper agreed: Based on our orders thus far, customers are clearly excited by this offering and price – and quite rightly so.”

Retailers are also confident any remaining cynics will be won over, provided Microsoft is able to showcase the experience of playing Kinect effectively.

GAME Group’s UK MD Martyn Gibbs told MCV: Kinect is a fantastic piece of technology and we believe that once people actually try it for themselves, they will understand the full scope and value of what it offers them.”