IndustryGamers - Informing the Games Industry

Xbox 360's Natal Will 'Sell Millions and Millions,' says Microsoft

Posted April 5, 2010 by James Brightman

The motion controller war is just heating up. While the Wii is the dominant player in motion control gaming as it stands now, both Microsoft and Sony hope to change that later this fall when they launch Project Natal and PlayStation Move, respectively. From an anecdotal perspective, it seems like Microsoft still has the advantage with Natal, but Sony has come out swinging since unveiling Move at GDC. Recently, Sony explained why it doesn't think the technology behind Natal is all that exciting and why they bypassed it in favor of their own PlayStation Eye camera in conjunction with a controller.

Meanwhile, Microsoft plans to have its big Natal world premiere at E3 in June, and the company is very confident. Speaking in the latest issue of Edge magazine [via CVG], Microsoft product director Aaron Greenberg said that Natal will sell millions right at launch this year. In order for that to happen, however, Microsoft will need to have a games lineup that truly demonstrates the unique gameplay only possible with Natal.

"Our focus for launch [for Natal] is on original experiences, built from the ground up," Greenberg commented. "We believe that's important because the first impression has to be a magical one. But because we expect millions and millions of these things to be sold this Christmas, over time developers will know millions of customers have these sensors so they can add functionality to their games. So you may see hybrid approaches, but our initial focus is on those unique experiences."

Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter told IndustryGamers that Microsoft is planning on bundling the Natal camera in with Xbox 360 hardware, and that should give it an advantage. Moreover, the prospect of a 360 slim model could give Natal another boost. "Recent rumors of the Xbox 360 Slim support the concept of a Natal bundle, since Natal plus software could cost $60 - 80.  If they can cut the production cost of the 360 by $50 with a slim version, they could afford to bundle Natal into the box at the same $299 price point, and I think that they would sell millions of these a year for the next few years," Pachter told us last month.

James Brightman has been covering the games industry since 2003 and has been an avid gamer ever since the days of Atari and Intellivision. He was previously the EIC of GameDaily Biz.