Things are about to go crazy for Kinect and Microsoft, because according to the New York Post the publisher is planning to spend $500M on its launch. That’s half a billion dollars. On a controller. Think you’ve avoided the hype? Think again.
“Like a much anticipated summer blockbuster,” says the newspaper, “Kinect will appear on everything from soda cans to cereal boxes and will span television, magazines and the Internet.”
“Kinect is the largest, most integrated marketing initiative in Xbox history, bigger than its launch,” said Robert Matthews, general manager of global marketing communications for Xbox. The figure quoted outstrips that spent on the original Xbox launch, which included hardware development subsidies.
Kinect will take over YouTube’s home page and have a big presence on lots of TV stations and other websites, including Nickelodeon and Disney. Microsoft, according to the report, is “spending ad dollars in places it doesn’t normally to target moms as well as kids”.
Bonkers.
BIGAL-1992
What if it flops at retail?
hazelam
if? o_O
solidsteven
Then it will be the biggest joke in history and there would be a thread about it.
hazelam
not gonna happen, duke nukem forever, DNF the most ironic acronym ever :) , will hold that title for years yet.
djhsecondnature
Surely they’re going to have to see an insane amount to make a profit?
JesseDeya
Of course they are going big… they need to recoup their investment costs within the first 2 months before people realise they have been duped.
It’s actually stroke of genius. Make the campaign so epic that:
a) Hardcore gamers still won’t touch it. No harm not foul.
b) Casual gamers, mums, idiots etc will flock to it. Many will also not have the console yet. Sales +++ for MS.
If within a few months the whole world realises this isn’t the revolution the $500M ad campaign promised them it would be then:
a) Hardcore gamers will scoff and say ‘told you so’. No harm, no foul, no loss of client for MS.
b) Some of the casuals who were bitten by the hype will be angry, some will just let the thing gather dust and some will start playing other non-Kinect Xbox titles. No matter which, MS doesn’t care because they were customers they would never have attracted without the lure of Kinect, so whether they retain them as customers or not, they have still made serious coin from them by selling them a console, Kinect and several shitty games.
Juelz345
Again, someone resorting to calling other people “idiots” because they’re interested in something that you’re not.
I’m a core gamer (with 11 platinum’s and 24K+ gamer score to prove it) and I’m getting Kinect. That makes me an idiot?
I’m very interested in the UI integration and my wife wants the Ubisoft fitness game and my kids want just about everything i’ve shown them from Kinect. We’re idiots?
If the product isn’t for you then fine, but that doesn’t make the product garbage of the people interested in it idiots.
Will a lot of uniformed casual players purchase Kinect? Absolutely, as they did with the Wii. Will they be disappointed? Why would they? They’re getting what they wanted, a easy to use gaming device that can used by the entire family for casual gaming.
I bought a Wii at launch and loved it for about 3 months…now i never play it unless i’m playing with my kids. But my kids play it constantly and love it. And i’m pretty sure the same will happen with Kinect.
Armonster9000
I don’t think he is calling anyone an idiot for buying it, maybe he is calling them that because they have no idea what they are buying.
JesseDeya
Whoa, take a pill Juelz. I understand there are exceptions to the rule, and you’re a hardcore gamer exception.
Armonster9000 was right, my reference to idiots are the droves of people who will literally buy this thing thinking it is something that it’s not simply because they see the ad, believe the hype, and buy the product with no research. You’re clearly not one of those people or you wouldn’t be posting here.
tonycawley
I assume they’re not arsed about initial outlay or profit, they’ve got enough cash to not worry about that. The point here is, if they can get everyone to see it, and everyone to want one, then they’ll sell a lot. Then they can sit back and watch the money roll in on the back of the games. Before the motion control war has really begun, ms have won. This is not dependant on the quality of the product, it’s dependant solely on ms marketting, which we all know is awesome. Really don’t get why sony don’t take a leaf or 3 out of their book.
bunimomike
Agreed. What frustrates me most is Move is the better product (in my opinion) an deserves to have an insane amount of publicity too.
tonycawley
Well if sony don’t market it then it wont get it. Same mistake sony make every single time, they should seriously hire me for their marketting dept, i’m sure i’d do a good job and would be more than happy to do it for around £50k/annum, which i’m sure is a hell of a lot less than they pay their current useless marketting Muppets.
cam the man
You can over market stuff too.
There are some advertisements that you see everywhere and you get sick of them. TV adverts are the worst, they’re on so often they put you off the product.
DeathByNumbers
Makes sense as the box is likely to be bigger.
Bilbo_bobbins
I had a go at Kinect at the weekend. Unfortunately, I have to say it’s a load of pap. It was not very responsive at all, plus while I was dancing around look like a prat in a game store, while I was asked to freestyle…it seemed my moves were so “cool” that I managed to somehow pause the game mid flow. This happened not just to me but others too. I’m sure lots will love it and buy without trying it first….for those who do, then fair enough and good luck.
stingraz
“everything from soda cans to..”
I don’t drink soda, I’m English.
For that reason, I’m out.
BIGAL-1992
That one dragon down.
tonycawley
But surely you drink american cream soda? Everyone loves a bit of american cream soda, that shit’s the shit!
Bilbo_bobbins
cream soda is disgusting, reminds me of the crap the milkman used to bring round everyweek.
AG2297
Was it milk?
ghost5
Surely that figure can’t be right. If Microsoft make 1/3 profit on every kinect sold after manufacturing, shipping, packaging, retail and everything else (apart from advertising costs) then they will make $50 per unit. Now I think I am being very generous by using 1/3 and even this means they have to sell 10 million units to see a return. And I know they will make extra money from the sale of consoles and games but not to the tune of half a billion dollars. Let’s not also forget the development cost on top of it all. It doesn’t make sense for them to spend so much as they will never see a return.
djsunna
Microsoft want to make $1 billion in the first year
check this out
http://www.thesixthaxis.com/2010/07/13/kinect-to-make-microsoft-1bn/
Gaztee
MS are thinking of the bigger picture like they did with the original xbox! They are hoping that when the next gen comes around & everything is more ‘minority report’ that as they got here first they will do it better?? Like they have done with xbox live & achievements!
You mustn’t forget either that MS have much deeper pockets than Sony & can afford to throw stupid amounts of money at this! Personally, so far I’m not impressed, but I guarentee that millions of others will be!
ghost5
There are roughly 43 million Xboxs worldwide. That means they need to sell kinect to 1 in every 4 xbox owners to make a return from advertising alone. Add on to that the reported 42 to 54% failure rate of early consoles and it’s getting closer to every other person having to buy one.
djhsecondnature
Don’t forget it would also increase console sales, and software sales.
Quinlank
Would it though?
solidsteven
And i will stop posting*sacrasm*
Charmed_Fanatic
*sacrasm*?? what is of this you speak??
solidsteven
*sarcasm* not what i spelt it as. you can punch me for spelling that wrong. :P lol
coruscant
What tonycawley seems to forget is that, unlike Microsoft, Sony don’t have unlimited money to spend – their profits were $110 million in 2009, whereas Microsoft’s were $4.17 billion. Ergo it can’t get the level of publicity anywhere near what Sony can