MS: Kinect will break records

It has already claimed that Kinect will enjoy a stronger launch than Xbox 360 and that it will blow away” the iPad. Now Microsoft has claimed that Kinect is going to be the biggest ever hardware sales launch ever.

We are investing in this like we’ve never invested in a platform launch,” Microsoft Game Studios’ corporate vice president Phil Spencer told Edge.

This is, for us, the biggest platform launch in the history of the industry.

We want to sell more units than any console has ever sold in its first holiday, a new platform. Our retail partners are telling us, based on the consumer demand ‘this is going to be the number one consumer electronics purchase this holiday’. Not just in the games space, all of them.

So this, for us, is bigger than Xbox launch, bigger than 360 launch – this is a big deal for us. How many units are we going to sell? We’re completely goaled in investing as if this were the biggest console launch ever, and that’s our expectation.”

In July MCV spoke to a number of retailers who had reported a boom in the number of pre-orders that they have received for the Kinect.

The big-promise strategy is in direct contrast to the slow-and-steady approach pursued by Sony for its recently launched PlayStation Move controller.

Earlier this month Sony UK marketing manager Adam Boita told MCV: Pre-orders are always important, but Move is not necessarily a pre-order product. It’s not like Halo or World of Warcraft expansions, where people want to get hold of it day one. It is an evergreen product. And whereas pre-orders are very important, it is not necessarily the key focus.”