Microsoft defends Kinect pricing
Analysts were generally unimpressed with the $150 price tag put on the Kinect hardware -- the consensus has been that Microsoft set the price too high and sales will suffer as a result. But Microsoft group marketing manager Brett Siddons disagrees. Speaking at an Amazon event in the UK, he said that once you "do the maths," Kinect is "very competitively priced."
Siddons is talking about UK prices, but his argument works the same for the American retail listings. The Kinect pack comes with support for two players (six non-active) and the Kinect Adventures game, with no other accessories needed. That's compared to PlayStation Move, which gives you the main controller, a camera, and Sports Champions for $100. But Siddons says the "Navigation controller" will cost $30 more, and expanding to full controls for two players actually makes things more expensive than Kinect. Even two Wii remotes and Nunchucks will run you $140, and that's without Motion Plus add-ons. When you look at it that way, you can see why Microsoft believes Kinect is priced competitively.
Of course, Siddons is obviously speaking from Microsoft's perspective -- you don't necessarily need the Navigation controller (you can replace it with a Dual Shock, which most people already have), or two full players' worth of controls anyway. Still, even if that $150 buys an experience similar to what's on other consoles, there's still a question of whether you'll want to write that big check in the first place.
