Kinect ‘off to a rough start’ in Japan

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What a surprise! Kinect launched in Japan a scant three days ago, but apparently it kicked off with more of a whimper than a bang, reportedly selling a mere quarter of what PlayStation Move was selling at launch. The word comes just from a single retailer, but let’s face it … this is Japan. 

Tsutaya merchandiser Taketo Matsuo says that in Japan, the core consumer for Kinect were those that already owned an Xbox 360 rather than new consumers. We’ve had the opposite happen in North America, where new consumers are getting Kinect and established PS3 owners are getting Move. The retail spokesman says that Kinect is “off to a pretty rough start.”

Given Japan’s love of Japanese things and general distrust of things that are not Japanese things, this is hardly a shocker. Microsoft should have slapped a sub-par drawing of a big-eyed cat on the box. That’d work.

Early Reports Suggest Kinect Having “Rough Start” in Japan [1UP]


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