Ipsos Vantis Predicts the Big Game Winner for US 2010 Holiday Season: Xbox Kinect

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Oct 26, 2010, 02:05 ET

NEW YORK, Oct. 26 /PRNewswire/ - With the holiday season around the corner, brands are rushing against the clock to get their newest video game and console accessory offerings onto the shelves. Sony has recently unveiled its new PlayStation Move, improving upon the controller experience first ushered in by Nintendo Wii. Microsoft hopes to shake things up as well with its controller-free offering, Kinect. What will holiday shoppers choose as their newest controller platform? While that would clearly depend on whether they already have a game console, Ipsos Vantis set out to measure market potential for the new offering regardless of what is currently owned.

Ipsos Vantis' technology analysts have the breadth of experience and understanding of the market to accurately predict the success or failure of the newest offerings in the video games category. With all eyes on the holiday season and announcements from major brands forthcoming, Ipsos leverages its proprietary research from the Vantis Files to understand acceptance of new product and service offerings to see which platforms consumers embrace.

In a recent research wave of Vantis*Express ─ an on-demand research service that tests new products and services ─ Ipsos Vantis tested Xbox Kinect (using two different communication styles) and the Sony PlayStation Move.

Let the Games Begin

Results reveal it will be a close fight between the Sony PlayStation Move and Xbox Kinect. Despite a significant difference in usage method, a similar number of respondents claimed that they definitely or probably would buy either platform. Kinect wins on two important dimensions that are predictive of market success: uniqueness and believability. Given a new usage experience, one might expect some level of skepticism among respondents for Kinect. Surprisingly, though, Kinect excels on both uniqueness and believability vs. other tech products in the Vantis database. PS Move is rather weak on both dimensions.

While there are a lot of factors other than consumer appeal that influence demand, the underlying potential for Xbox Kinect looks very good.

Communicating the Right Message is Essential

Microsoft's Kinect offers several features such as voice commands, hand gestures and the ability to communicate with friends and family. Vantis tested two ways to serve up all these benefits. The key for Microsoft is to remain focused on the primary differentiating aspect of Kinect, i.e., "no controller required". Needlessly adding more messages around features and applications may result in the dilution of the critical consumer communication. This dilution is magnified to the point that the Buzz Power for Kinect drops from an impressive top 20 percentile to a dismal below average. The strength of Kinect lies in its simplicity of use.

Ipsos Vantis' Pick

If Microsoft can keep its communications simple and single minded, it looks to have the lead in next generation controllers.

About Vantis Files

The results in this news release reflect some of the findings from Ipsos online surveys conducted as part of a Vantis Files project among U.S. consumers.

Vantis Files (VF) is a syndicated service focused on the technology, durable goods, financial services and healthcare sectors and is designed to provide insights into the market potential for new products and services early in the product development and launch cycle. VF draws on Vantis' forecasting heritage, extending over 30 years and tied into the largest normative database of its kind. Each quarter Ipsos Vantis fields an online, omnibus survey among consumers to assess market potential of new product and services concepts.

This release is also available with charts at:

http://ipsos-na.com/news-polls/pressrelease.aspx?id=5017

For more information on this news release, please contact:

Supriya Chabria
Account Manager
Ipsos Vantis
(212)584-9247
[email protected]

For full tabular results, please visit our website at www.ipsos.com. News Releases are available at: http://www.ipsos-na.com/news/

CONTACT: For more information on this news release, please contact: Supriya Chabria Account Manager IpsosVantis (212)584-9247 <a href="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</a>

SOURCE Ipsos Vantis