Microsoft no doubt hopes that Kinect would be a midlife booster for its Xbox 360. The new motion sensing controller aims to attract casual gamers to Micorosft's consoles which has been targeting hardcore gamers exclusively since its launch.
DFC Intelligence, believe that Microsoft's efforts are fruitless. "In terms of changing the overall video game hardware platform market share we see [Kinect] having a negligible impact," the analyst firm explained in a monthly brief. "The Xbox 360 has some good years left, but the platform is clearly on the downside of its lifecycle."
DFC believes that the "lack of complex of complex control options" caused by the system's inability to track finger movements and having no buttons to press will deter a lot of the potential buyers.
Another reason given by DFC is Microsoft's business philosophy! DFC believes that Microsoft intends to take the successful casual games such as virtual pets and dancing games and port them to Kinect.
"There are numerous problems with this approach, but the biggest problem is Microsoft, at its core, is simply not an entertainment company," DFC said. "Almost every time Microsoft has tried to emulate successful entertainment products they have failed."
DFC predicts that Xbox 360 and Wii sales will decrease in the year ahead while Playstation 3's will increase. Even with declining sales, the firm expects Wii to continue to outsell Microsoft's and Sony's consoles for another year.
