Sony today said it shipped 1 million units of its new PlayStation Move motion-sensing controller to North American and Latin American retailers in the product's first 30 days of availability in the territories.
Today's shipment announcement follows Sony Computer Entertainment Europe's recent announcement that the device sold "in the region of 1.5 million units" in the Move's first month on that continent.
Sony Computer Entertainment America CEO Jack Tretton told Reuters, "We had to go back and increase production twice, we're absolutely maxed out right now."
The new control system, aimed at the broader Nintendo Wii audience, first shipped in North America on September 17 and uses a colored, lighted ball and the PlayStation Eye camera to accurately track motion in three dimensions.
The Move is sold with the PlayStation Eye, the wand controller and the game Sports Champions for $99, and in a bundle that includes the game, camera, wand and PlayStation 3 console for $399.
Sold individually, the PlayStation Eye sells for $39, the wand controller for $49 and the D-pad-and-analog-stick-enabled "Navigation Controller" sells for $29.
Sony's launch of the PlayStation Move precedes the coming November 4 launch of Microsoft's Kinect body-scanning camera, the next entry in the motion-sensing video game battle.
I love how they won't say what "units" means. I'm guessing they count anything hardware/peripheral with the word "Move" on the packaging as a unit, so buying the bundle + 3 wands and four navigation controllers = 8 "units."
Still, can't argue that it has at least sold decent, can't imagine what percent of the install basis 2.5 million "units" accounts for.
They have stated it means any Sale involving a Wand. So a bundle counts as 1. A wand counts as another. A nav controller doesn't count, nor does an Eye unless it's part of a bundle with the Wand.
This still means households with more than one wand mess up the numbers, but there is no way around that.
Well they have sold about 1.5 million to consumers in Europe in the first month. Because of that, they are shipping 1 million to retailers in the US. Fairly straightforward to me except for the definition of units.
Sony said in europe they sold “somewhere in the region of 1.5 million units”, théy didn't spoke about controllers here specifically, only about move products.
SONY is reporting the number of units SHIPPED out the door to retailers all over the Americas (Latin & North...Central & Canada?)...How many units have actually been SOLD to consumers? What consists of a unit?
Most times, units SOLD to customers is what is reported (HALO, CoD, etc.) vs. time (first day, week, month). This is a useful indication of customer interest in the product. The number of SHIPPED "units" only tells us SONY was able to produce 1 million MOVE "units" in 30 days.
While anecdotal evidence isn't necessarily true nation wide, I know most stores around me are sold out. Not a surprise to me, it's a pretty amazing piece of equipment. (I own 2 wands and a navigation controller -- it took me about 4 stores to find a navcon in stock).
Still, can't argue that it has at least sold decent, can't imagine what percent of the install basis 2.5 million "units" accounts for.
This still means households with more than one wand mess up the numbers, but there is no way around that.
Can you tell me, where they clarified this? I am looking for this information, but wasn't able to find it yet.
Most times, units SOLD to customers is what is reported (HALO, CoD, etc.) vs. time (first day, week, month). This is a useful indication of customer interest in the product. The number of SHIPPED "units" only tells us SONY was able to produce 1 million MOVE "units" in 30 days.