Dance Central and Kinect Sports sell 1 million each in US

by Alexander Sliwinski on Jan 14th 2011 12:50PM

Microsoft's Aaron Greenberg has called Kinect launch titles Dance Central and Kinect Sports "breakout hits" for the publisher, announcing that each has accounted for one million units in US sales. Globally, the Kinect device has already achieved 8 million units shipped.

During Kinect's November launch month, Dance Central just missed making the top ten in US game sales for the month and was trailed by the Rare-developed Kinect Sports and Ubisoft's Your Shape: Fitness Evolved among the bestselling Kinect titles. Harmonix's dance game also just missed landing among our top ten games of 2010.

Source: Twitter / Aaron Greenberg

Tags: Aaron-Greenberg, dance-central, Harmonix, kinect, kinect-sports, microsoft, NPD, Rare, sales, xbox

Reader Comments (49)

Dance Central looks like a lot of fun for a dancing game.... it's just a shame I have absolutely zero interest in a dancing game or I would have instantly bought a Kinect for it.

@Huey2k2 I didn't have any interest either... before I tried it.

Even though I could only do the easy and medium routines for Poker Face and nothing else, it still kept my attention much longer than any other Kinect game.

Can't say I'm willing to shell out $200 for one good game, though.

@My Prerogative I did, and it was called Steel Battalion. And having got a Kinect, I will have it for the next Steel Battalion. Feels so good.

@Huey2k2 - I was the same way. I was disappointed to see that one of my favourite developers was working on a dance game...

Then PAX came & I played it.

It's easily the number one Kinect launch title and one of the best motion controlled games I've ever played. Well worth it.

@Huey2k2
Even for someone not really interested in dancing etc, it is a lot of fun for a party / group game (even though you have to take turns). One thing I've found is it that if you have a really analytical mind & general play style, you can actually do really really well because it just comes down to "doing the right move", following direction, and remembering what the move indicators mean, whether you're a person who goes out dancing normally or not. The way they set the game up is built just as much for gamers who know all the tricks/moves in any given game they play as it is for people who already love to dance.

@Huey2k2

It's funny because I'm the opposite: I like dancing games but I have zero room to set up a Kinect. One sensor add on shouldn't require an empty warehouse to use!

Kinect Sports doesn't really count since it came with Kinect.

Kinect Adventures came with Kinect.

@My Prerogative

Why wouldn't it count? It was Kinect Adventures that is bundled with Kinect.

@My Prerogative

Wrong!

Alright, alright, people. My mistake. It's just that it was Kinect Sports that came with my friend's Christmas present. It makes me wonder where Adventures went, but nevermind.

@My Prerogative
Sorry, but I actually heard this in my head when I read your initial comment

http://www.priceisrightfail.com/

@My Prerogative

Given that you thought it came with the Kinect, it didn't seem odd to you that this article said it sold 1 million copies and in the very next sentence said that the Kinect itself had sold 8 million.

What did you think happened to the other 7 million copies of the game?

@My Prerogative See what happens when furiously typing in the comment box is the first thing you do after clicking a headline? You gotta stop and think for a minute.

I'm not going to lie...played Dance Central over Christmas break...LOVED it.

@Captain Planet Planeteer Power It's even better when you play naked.

I have Dance Central and love it. It actually teaches you basic rhyme so if you're a white male you can probably do a little bit of dancing in a club and not be ashamed

@The Minn
Lol dont rely on a video game to teach you how to dance. Ask a real girl to show you how to dance dude.

Not really, the game keeps detecting the wrong signal around both my knees for some reasons.

Dance Central is a dancing game for everyone.

After half an hour of DC I'm dripping sweat and reflecting on the pop, drop, and push routine for "Push It" I just performed. I'm also wondering why I suddenly enjoy "Dip It Low" and, respectively, dipping it low. I'm trash talking my girlfriend, throwing expletives in her general direction pertaining to the recent thrashing I just gave her in "Just Dance". Needless to say, I MELTED her "Poker Face".

So, yeah. Dance Central is fun. Just needs a few more modes, maybe a fleshed out workout mode, career mode, etc.

@nukkajdav

And their menu system should become the standard on all kinect games.

@baby sea tuna - I agree completely about the menu. Dance Central is by far the quickest and easiest of the Kinect games I've played to navigate the menus in.

@baby sea tuna

Who would have thought that flicking stuff off to the side (Minority Report style) in the exact same manner they originally demo'd the kinect would be better than holding your hand out like a stop sign and slowly trying to move a cursor around with it?

Oh yea, everyone except the people who actually worked on the other kinect games and interfaces.

*sigh* Godamnit Rare!!!! Just make a new killer instinct and battletoads already!!!! You'll get some of your damn dignity back that way

@Mrguy you know that guy

I think they've still got a lot of shit to shovel before they prove that they were a wise investment for MSFT.

@baby sea tuna I second that one, they haven't made one game since the accusition that i remotely liked, they even destroyed Banjo-Kazooie for god sakes!!!

Are these the best selling games, barring Adventures as it came with the device, for Kinect as a whole?

Kinect Sports is actually good, cant say the same about dance central.

Those are the 2 games I have right now for my Kinect. It's really easy to just write them off (along with the hardware) as being gimmicky and lame, but these are the types of games that you absolutely need to try out before you form an opinion. I was skeptical but they are insanely fun and responsive. It's easy to lose yourself in a game of volleyball or dance routine. I don't believe anyone that says these games suck. LIES! Everyone that has tried it out at my place has fallen in love with it.

This bodes well for the future of Kinect. Since it's a huge success and there are already 2-million sellers for it, lots of developers will want to get on board, which means that more games (and ideas) are coming. Nice.

@Uncle Jesse Will you let me know when "Oprah's Game Club" starts? Also REALLY looking forward to the first Lifetime game.

Good work, Harmonix and Rare!

Now that you know how to use the hardware, get to work on Kinect-enabled Amplitude and Viva Pinata games STAT!

Your Kinect may be placed slightly too high. Same thing happened to me until I brought it to about waist-level.

@RickGhastly

Err, that was to Korwyn. My app decided to go rogue.

No surprise since they're the only good games on the kinect

I have both and they are really great fun games. Those are the two games I always recommend to people who r buying kinect. With those two games and kinect adventures you'll get tons of fun and gameplay. Joy ride, sonic free riders and the fitness games are not even close to being worth 50.

@trunas - Your Shape is pretty good as long as you can accept that it's not a game. I agree that Joy Ride isn't worth $50. It was even on sale for $30 here last month and I passed. It would've been so much better as a standard XBLA release like they originally announced.

Good news for Harmonix. I've been very worried about their future lately, what with Viacom dropping them like a bad habit. Hopefully they'll do fine on their own, though.

I've played kinect sports and few times for about two hours straight with family and friends and thought that it did a great job of making me sweat. Now im not saying this will take the place of me working out but it for sure makes u move! I did check out the demo for, Your Shape and thought it was pretty cool. I just rather spend that money on something that is a more of a game

@trunas try out the demo for The Biggest Loser. it impressed me a lot (considering how I thought it would be bad). the graphics are meh, but the workout will get you pooped.

wow. Dance Central killed Rock Band 3...

Can't believe Dance Central or Kinect Sports isn't bundled with the Kinect. Huge missed opportunity by retailers and Microsoft.

@shuref00t Right, right... huge, COLOSSAL missed opportunity to reap profits from two million-selling pieces of $60 software, to say nothing of the next million copies both of those games will sell as Kinect gains more traction.

@shuref00t If you were to just say Kinect Sports, I would have agreed with you. As fun of a game as it is, I felt like THAT should have been the game that came with the Kinect and the games on Kinect Adventure should have just been a set of games on Sports.

As for Dance Central, that game is fine as a separate title, the amount of quality and quantity with that title definitely does not meet a criteria as freeware to demo the hardware.

@RickGhastly
Ya mine too. I hit reply to "Mrguy you know that guy" when he told cap planet to play dance central naked. So I said my comment. It turns out really weird.

No nothing wrong with the kinect in fact. I'm having lots of fun with it.

Good stuff from Harmonix and congrats to Microsoft on their Kinect. This is what Sony's move is missing......that one killer title that will bring people in.

Now, is this something that I would be intersted as a gamer? Not really, but Kinect and this game are something my sisters and niece are something they are very interested in buying.

@jonjon72 I dunno.. I think Kinect has move pegged just because of the remote free gameplay.

I agree, but only because of the price of admission. Until more comes out: No sale.

Glad for Harmonix, as they really had the best Kinect tracking title, and it's a fun game that delivers. I hope developers look at that, and meet or exceed it, in the future.

Man people gave Rare so much grief for making Kinect Sports and yet it's their first hit game since the Nintendo 64. I always said Kinect Sports would be a return to form for Rare. This is the Rare that I grew up with on NES before Nintendo bought them. I am happy for Rare because after a decade of irrelevance they've finally found their niche again.

Dance Central

Dance Central and Kinect Sports sell 1 million each in US

Reader Comments (49)

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 12:52PM Huey2k2 said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 12:56PM My Prerogative said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 1:09PM Robborboy said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 1:15PM Mcmax3000 said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 2:01PM swooded said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 4:30PM Bluebreaker said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 12:54PM My Prerogative said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 1:00PM Epoque said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 1:00PM MaulerX said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 1:04PM syrik zero said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 1:06PM My Prerogative said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 1:17PM Uncle Jesse said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 1:57PM Vcize said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 2:38PM That Darned said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 12:57PM Captain Planet Planeteer Power said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 1:06PM Mrguy you know that guy said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 1:01PM The Minn said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 1:14PM Mustang Fanboy said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 1:23PM Korwyn said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 1:09PM nukkajdav said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 1:24PM baby sea tuna said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 1:53PM Mcmax3000 said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 1:59PM Vcize said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 1:10PM Mrguy you know that guy said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 1:22PM baby sea tuna said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 2:09PM Mrguy you know that guy said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 1:11PM Robborboy said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 1:12PM Mustang Fanboy said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 1:14PM Uncle Jesse said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 1:23PM Uncle Jesse said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 2:06PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 1:19PM baby sea tuna said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 2:27PM RickGhastly said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 2:35PM RickGhastly said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 1:36PM Papito208 said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 1:50PM trunas said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 1:56PM Mcmax3000 said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 1:56PM ddrussianinja said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 2:03PM trunas said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 3:29PM onlysublime said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 2:08PM onlysublime said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 2:32PM shuref00t said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 2:40PM That Darned said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 3:16PM Ryguy226 said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 3:44PM Korwyn said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 3:01PM jonjon72 said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 3:59PM ND92 said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 4:50PM hiruuamon said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 7:06PM cool8man said

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