Analysts: 8 million-selling Kinect "a surprise to us all," "premature to say Move is beaten"

EEDAR's Jesse Divnich and Wedbush Morgan's Michael Pachter have praised Kinect's performance following news from CES that it's shipped 8 million units since its November launch.

Microsoft president Steve Ballmer made the announcement during its CES keynote on Thursday.

Divnich said the popularity of the motion camera was a "surprise".

"The success of the Kinect was a surprise to us all, and to Microsoft as well," Divnich told Eurogamer.

"Among all the analysts, I was the most bullish, forecasting 5-6 million in sell-through by the end of the year. While Microsoft announced 8 million in 'ship-in', it would imply at least 6.5 million units, surpassing even the most bullish of estimates."

Pachter added that he was "very surprised" by the figures.

"The Kinect shipment number suggests 7 million sold to consumers. I initially expected 3 million, and was surprised when they forecast 5 million," he said.

"So I am very surprised by this figure; it is truly impressive."

But despite Kinect's success, both Divnich and Pachter weren't writing off Sony's PlayStation Move just yet. In fact, Divnich claimed that both Kinect and Move saved what could have been a bad Holiday season for the industry.

"Regardless of which side the gamers take, all should acknowledge that both products played a tremendous role in driving sales and videogame awareness this Holiday season," he said.

"Even without the official December figures in, I have no doubt in concluding that both the Kinect and Move saved the holiday season from what would have been a disastrous situation of negative dollar comparisons.

"If Nintendo 'saved' us in 2008 and 2009, Microsoft and Sony returned that favor in 2010."

Despite a sales-shipped snafu that overshadowed its announcement, Sony announced in November it had shipped 4.1 million Move units worldwide.