In case you've missed this so far, Sony has announced that 2.5 million PlayStation Move controllers have been shipped since the motion sensing device launched last month. One million of those have gone out to stores in North America, and the other one and a half million through Europe. The Move provides accurate 3D motion tracking, using both built-in accelerometers and a camera that sits below the PS3 console scanning the controller's movement. The product is an important part of Sony's Christmas push for the PS3, and the hope is it will attract mainstream family gamers away from the Wii.
While the figure isn't mind-blowing, it's a more solid start than some pundits predicted, and Sony has always said that it sees Move as a slow-burnier that'll pick up attention over the life of the console. In August, Ray Maguire, Senior VP of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, told Eurogamer:
Am I expecting a massive day one? Not particularly. We didn't with EyeToy, either. It went on to be massively successful. As people saw the value when they tried it they told their friends. Their friends bought it. They told their friends. Word of mouth grew the marketplace. That's what I expect from Move as well.
It will be interesting to see how this performance compares with Microsoft's much-hyped rival Kinect, a hands-free controller for the Xbox 360. The Seattle giant is putting a multi-million dollar marketing push behind its technology, set for release on November 10.
