Yesterday Microsoft posted an impressive 2.5 million Kinect units sold worldwide since the device went on sale earlier this month. Today Sony comes back with even more impressive numbers for the PlayStation Move, albeit over an extended period of time.
Sony's answer to motion control went on sale on September 15 in Europe, September 16 in Australia, September 17 in North America and the UK, and finally saw the light of day in Japan on October 2010. Today Sony reports that 4.1 million PlayStation Move units have been sold worldwide in the more than two months since launch, or a little under one for every ten PlayStation 3 systems (41.6 million according to the press release) sold since the console's launch in 2006.
Sony says the number indicates a successful launch for its motion sensing controller, with positive momentum carrying it through the holidays and into 2011.
Those are impressive numbers indeed, selling slightly slower than Microsoft's Kinect but definitely making a strong showing. It does bear noting, however, that those numbers take into account customers that purchased multiple Moves for one PlayStation 3, while only one Kinect is needed per Xbox 360.
Hopefully the big numbers will get publishers interested in releasing some big name titles with Move support in the future.
Update: A Sony representative has clarified to Kotaku that the 4.1 million represents units sold to retail outlets from Sony.
"The 4.1M units are global sales for the company for PlayStation Move. While we don't disclose our exact sell-through number, the key is that our retailers continue to ask for more Move units and are taking every unit we can supply them with based on their sales."