Sony US can't make enough Move

By Robert Purchese Published 22 October, 2010

Demand has "maxed" manufacture.

PlayStation Move sales are better than Sony expected.

In the US, Move was bought 1 million times in a month.

"We had to go back and increase production twice," beamed Sony US boss Jack Tretton to Reuters. "We're absolutely maxed out right now."

Those numbers complement the 1.5 million sales Sony Europe boss Andrew House witnessed in his territory.

Remember, Sony isn't expecting big upfront sales of PlayStation Move. Senior VP Ray Maguire told Eurogamer in August that "word of mouth" will prevail.

PlayStation Move launched first in Europe on 15th September, then in North America on 17th September. Japan got the device yesterday.

It uses gyroscopic motion-sensing technology inside the cylindrical controller coupled with PlayStation Eye-tracking of a glowing ball on top. The result should be a 1:1 on-screen recreation of your gestures.

To use PlayStation Move, then, you'll need the Move controller (RRP £34.99), a PlayStation Eye camera (RRP £24.99) and some games that support it.

You can buy these devices separately or bundled together in the PlayStation Move Starter Pack (RRP £49.99 - better deals here).

You may also like the PlayStation Move Navigation Controller (RRP £24.99), the PlayStation Move Gun and the PlayStation Move Charging Station.

Microsoft's challenger Kinect enters the ring on 10th November on the back of $500m advertising spend. Its arrival has been billed to be as big as a console launch.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (46) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Dave52 #1 2 years ago

    Wow, I'm pleased for Move - that's cool.

    It's on my Christmas list.

  • Nighthawk_08 #2 2 years ago

    When Microsoft said they would ship 3 million kinects by year end I laughed quite uncontrollably. But seeing that move has almost done this in a month I think it's fair to say kinect will make those numbers. Very impressed with the sales of move and the product itself. Glad it's doing so well

  • Smoped #3 2 years ago

    I'm not surprised. They managed a very attractive price point, you can get Move as an impulse buy.

  • King_Edward #4 2 years ago

    Now back it up with some games Sony.

  • davisorle #5 2 years ago

    Post deleted at 15:13:13 09-05-2012

  • des #6 2 years ago

    NPD backs down and PR loonies are having a party.

  • kosigan #7 2 years ago

    "Those numbers compliment the 1.5 million sales"

    Again with the incorrect spelling of "complement". Is he doing it as some sort of running joke now or does he really not know how to spell?

  • woodnotes #8 2 years ago

    You'll find the cutlery and compliments just next to the bar.

  • suhawk75 #9 2 years ago

    @davisorle - I agree with the general thrust that the games aren't there yet but there are a few others beyond SC that you might like to try (if you haven't already)

    Flight Control and Tumble are really worth a pop. Even if you've played Flight Control on i Phone it looks great running at 1080p on a 40" screen and the fourplayer mode (which you can play with any combination of Dual Shocks/ Moves etc) is chaos!

    Tumble is also pretty good and there is demo (I think) on PSN if you're unsure.

    Ruse is good as well if you like your RTS. It's better with Move than with a controller (although I've not played the PC version yet)

    So far I've not mastered the MAG Move controls. Seems pretty difficult but I'm trying to unlearn 150hrs+ that I put into MAG using a pad so perhaps I need to give it more than 10 mins.

  • KayJay #10 2 years ago

    @suhawk75 - Im not sure davisorle has a PS3 so has probably never tried a move controller and never been bale to play all of the supported Move game, of which there are quite a few and not just SC... :-)

  • Doctor_What #11 2 years ago

    2.5m in the first month? That's very good going.

    I'm finding SC to be a decent little workout when playing the gladiator game on the higher cups. Heavy Rain is pretty cool with the Move controller. I've still not got MAG nailed with it - it's good fun (like a light gun game with real people) but I think the simple problem is that you can't turn and aim at the same time as effectively as you can with a pad, or that's how it feels at the moment.

    Overall, I'm pretty pleased with the Move, but interestingly my girlfriend has not been at all taken with it. She hates games anyway, so she's not a good measure for these things, but her first comment was 'it looks like a vibrator' and I think that view has really put her off it from the first moment. Sony really should have worked on that a bit harder, I suspect.

    Still, with Time Crisis and EA Active coming out soon then I think the Move is very quickly going to become a very used controller in my house.

    One additional benefit I've found - it's really very nice for controlling the menus and video playback. It somehow feels right to use for that and I can't place why.

    Anyway... Nice work Sony, keep it up and give use some essential releases soon!

  • drxym #12 2 years ago

    I am surprised by these figures. I was kind of thinking it would be a bit more niche. I do own a Move (my old PS3 packed in just before the launch so I bought a 320Gb replacement bundle for the hell of it). It's a wonderfully precise device but there isn't much decent software for it at the moment. Sports Champions & Tumble are probably the best and a few retrofitted titles do a passable job of integrating the controller, e.g. EyePet. I will think more of it's prospects when I see it integrated into more shooters and the like.
    Edited by drxym at 22/10/10 @ 09:26

  • NotSoSlim #13 2 years ago

    Socom, Killzone within the first 2 months of 2011 cater for dedicated gamers then you have the fitness game catering for casuals.

    Fair play to Sony, Kinect will outsell it but the Move is establishing itself. 2011 will be very important for the Move and Kinect.

  • mc_mclovin #14 2 years ago

    I have to agree with the general feeling here, that its a great bit of kit....still, bloody expensive to set up for multiple players!(specially if you get the nav controller for each player too!

    Anyway, i picked mine up in asda, they're selling the starter pack (move and camera) for £39.97 atm, which is a great price!

  • asphaltcowboy #15 2 years ago

    @kosigan +1

    Noticed it quite a few times now. It's really not tough!

  • KayJay #16 2 years ago

    Jesus.
    M.A.G says hello.
    R.U.S.E says hello.
    Heavy Rain says hello.
    Resident Evil 5 says hello.

    Plus a couple of others...
    [link url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_games_compatible_with_PlayStation_Move
    ]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_gam...[/link]

    /loves lists... ;)

  • KayJay #17 2 years ago

    "2.5m in the first month? That's very good going."

    And its only just releasing in Japan. They will lap it up...

  • Sabreman64 #18 2 years ago

    I've just bought a PS3 but I'm not buying Move. I've got all the waggling and motion-sensing nonsense I need already on my Wii. I don't want it on my PS3 too, thanks. And as for buying Kinect for my 360....forget it.

  • xentar #19 2 years ago

    Nice to see another nice numbers althought some analyst at Gamasutra are talking much lower figures for the US.
    As for me.. I think that Move is doing great with the game library it has. Sports Champions and Tumble are awesome, much better than anticipated. Other games are not as good but what makes Move interesting is how well it blends with older games like MAG and Heavy Rain or even Tiger Woods (if you don't mind losing the ability to use all the tricks to improve your shot in the air).

    Kinect will definitely sell 3 millions before the years end but that number will now be disappointing for MS because for the huge marketing push - Sony didn't invest anything near $500 mil and sold 2,5 units already (if the numbers are correct)

  • SilverNeon #20 2 years ago

    Reading around Neogaf and other places it's shipped numbers for each accessory and the bundle not quite sold to consumer, some people are finding the standalone controllers hard to find.
    By Christmas it'll be up against Kinect and will sell most of that stock, I think we'll get some idea of the popularity of either from the software sales of Move and Kinect specific launch titles.
    Edited by SilverNeon at 22/10/10 @ 10:22

  • Mkwone #21 2 years ago

    Suprised by the 2.5m sales in month 1, but i suppose we've got a wait a bit longer to get the worldwide sales figures as Japan have/had a much later launch.

    Who knows maybe it'll be 5m+ by the years end.

    Looking forward to 2011 when well see more games using the hardware.

  • Gambit1977 #22 2 years ago

    I dont know if I'm surprised or pleased.
    I have Move and unlike the wii, I keep wanting to play on it...but I've got nothing at the mo! The demos were great fun though, start the party with the super imposed 'tools' being an embarrassing favourite.

  • des #23 2 years ago

    "Nice to see another nice numbers although some analyst at Gamasutra are talking much lower figures for the US. "

    Because those numbers are lol PR shipped numbers(not sold to consumers and move,nav, bundle are counted separately,lol)
    So if you bought 2 move,2 nav controllers...4 move sales woohooo
    That analyst has access to true consumers sales...


  • Skooch #24 2 years ago

    The big question is though, how are Sony counting Move 'units'?

    Is it a starter pack, or is it any one single item that is used with Move, i.e. one wand, one nunchuk, one eyetoy etc....

    This makes a massive difference to how well it is selling. For two player games you need between 3-5 units (camera, two wands and possibly two nunchuks). If there is an average of 4 'units' sold then that is only 625,000 units (2.5m/4). Which isn't quite as grand as 2.5m in one month sounds.

    I fear we are going to have this problem continually when trying to compare Kinect and Move success.

  • xentar #25 2 years ago

    @skooch i think this will be solved soon with numbers of games sold for each platform if they will be released... For now i would say that dividing the move numbers with 1,5 may be somewhat accurate as not everyone will buy another controller and most of PS Eye owners will buy a standalone controller. i would say that almost all PS Eye owners will get move (they already invested into motion control and move offers much more games than ps eye itself)

  • Doctor_What #26 2 years ago

    I'm sure the figures are shipped rather than sold, but judging by how hard it was to find the solo controller in my sleepy little town (and then I got the last one after trying five different shops several weeks ago) I'm guessing that sales are very good.

    "Fair play to Sony, Kinect will outsell it"
    Really? I would love to see your evidence... Or could that possibly be pure conjecture? Surely not!

  • ronuds #27 2 years ago

    @skooch

    That's correct - comparing Move to Kinect sales won't mean much because from what we're hearing Sony is counting every available item for Move in their sales.

    It'd be nice to know how much they've sold of each item individually, but I'm afraid we probably never will.

    Still, 2.5m is pretty good.

  • Ryze #28 2 years ago

    Success for the PlaystationCockController!

  • mc_mclovin #29 2 years ago

    @zentar

    "....will now be disappointing for MS because for the huge marketing push - Sony didn't invest anything near $500 mil...."

    Evidence? how do you know what sony invested in developing, marketing etc for move?

    I hate it when people spout "facts" without backing them up....because normally they pulled the figures out their arse!

  • TonyHarrison #30 2 years ago

    I'm guessing that doesn't equate to the number of users, and instead will be a total of each of the different bits you need to play, so the eyetoy, the move, and the navigation controller...

  • jonsaan #31 2 years ago

    Who the fuck is buying it?

  • Miths #32 2 years ago

    I'm glad that it's been doing so well in such a short time, that should hopefully make it easier to convince more publishers and developers to get behind it sooner rather than later.

  • Colin8703 #33 2 years ago

    Great news. At this time I have no interest in this until the games start to appeal but I won't knock.

    likewise with Kinect.

    My concern with Kinect is if MS are spending that much money to achieve 3m sales, why don't they give them away?

    I think it works out about the same but happy to be corrected.

    I have both consoles by the way and allegiance to none.

  • Doctor_What #34 2 years ago

    @Jonsaan: I did. It sounds like quite a few other people on here did too. I fancied a go with a motion controller that's accurate, and it turns out it's good fun. Does that answer your question?

  • Ryze #35 2 years ago

    Hey - the girls all love my Playstation Cock!

  • man.the.king #36 2 years ago

    @Ryze

    "Success for the PlaystationCockController!" ... means... failure for this raving XBot!

    "Hey - the girls all love my Playstation Cock! " means ... in your case, they probably don't have anything else to love :)

  • jonsaan #37 2 years ago

    Yes! I just don't understand how something with so little software can be shifting so fast. But then I have a Wii already and am totally flappy armed sports fatigued. I thought the rest of the population were in a similar boat, given the amount of wiis that have been snapped up over the years.

  • xentar #38 2 years ago

    @mc_mcloving so you are not alowed to make educated guesses and use your own brain on eurogamers boards anymore?
    MS announced a big 500mil campaign, Sony acknowledged that it could not and will not match that kind of spending. The presence of Kinect is already huge with cameo appearences in TV shows, there is lots of advertisement for Kinect... it was not so with Move and it still is not so.

    this way or that way it seems like you didnt get any lately

  • cyber_nicco #39 2 years ago

    " She hates games anyway, so she's not a good measure for these things, but her first comment was 'it looks like a vibrator' and I think that view has really put her off it from the first moment."

    Time for a new girlfriend...
    Edited by cyber_nicco at 23/10/10 @ 00:03

  • Kassim #40 2 years ago

    well i bought a starter pack and i fully intend to buy another conroller in thr next month or so.
    A

  • Arwin #41 2 years ago

    Once you've played Gladiator or Table Tennis in Sports Champions it's hard to go back to DS3 games. And stuff like Tumble and RUSE just reinforce that, though even simple sruff like flight control shows that Move is a big win over the DS3 - and the list of supporting games is already very large, and crucially, diverse! I think it's awesome.

  • Gromit #42 2 years ago

    @Kosigan:

    Compliment
    [link url=http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/compliment
    ]http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/defini...[/link]

    Complement
    [link url=http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_gb0168170#m_en_gb0168170
    ]http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/view/e...[/link]

    TWO DIFFERENT WORDS WORDS!!!!
    You owe a very humble apology methinks....

  • davisorle #43 2 years ago

    Post deleted at 20:44:35 16-04-2012

  • TwitchyMcTwitch #44 2 years ago

    @Doctor_What

    For MAG, try setting your pointer speeds to max for hip fire and iron sights. The only way to make the camera more reactive, or turn fast sooner, is to make the pointer really fast. The pointer's speed effects the camera's threshold it seems.
    Edited by TwitchyMcTwitch at 24/10/10 @ 06:34

  • Ryze #45 2 years ago

    Move can be impulse-bought - and that's one of its biggest strengths versus the competition.

    It will also feel like an upgrade to the Wii for many players who have since sold their Wii and bought a PS3.

  • kosigan #46 2 years ago

    @Gromit: Yes, I know they're two different words: that's the point. The article was originally written as quoted in (as in, copied and pasted from) my original post. Since then, it has been corrected, though I don't know when. I suspect it was by the time you looked at it, judging from your remarks.