Microsoft has said in the past that its Kinect motion sensor add-on for the Xbox 360 console has been a huge seller. It sold a whopping 8 million units worldwide in just the first 60 days since it was launched in November 2010. But that sales success has not translated over in Japan, a country which has yet to embrace Microsoft"s Xbox business as a whole.
According to a new report on the Andriasang.com web site, just 114,000 units of the Kinect sensor have been sold in Japan during the device"s first year on sale in that country. Indeed the story says that 71,000 of those units were sold in November and December of 2010 with sales decreasing rapidly in 2011.
Aside from Kinect Adventures, which was bundled with the Kinect sensor, the biggest selling Kinect-supported Xbox 360 game in Japan is Forza Motorsport 4 with 24,900 units sold.
It"s clear that Microsoft still has a long way to go to convince the video game audience in Japan, home of two of the three big console makers in Sony and Nintendo, to try out the Xbox 360 console, even with the innovative Kinect sensor. Unfortunately. Microsoft might have to endure some losses in Japan in order to continue to make game publishing deals with Japanes-based publishers such as Namco Bandai, Capcom, Konami and others.