Call it Kinectification. Microsoft said today that its video-game business grew dramatically thanks to sales of its Kinect motion-sensing system.
The Entertainment & Devices division — which includes Xbox 360 and PC games, Zune, Windows Phone 7, and consumer software — generated $3.7 billion in revenue in the quarter ended Dec. 31, up 55 percent from $2.4 billion a year earlier.
Peter Klein, chief financial officer, said in a conference call that Kinect is the “fastest-selling consumer electronics device in history.”
That shows that, after many years of skepticism and losses, Microsoft’s game business has hit its stride. Kinect has given the company a much-needed boost in sales at a time when Microsoft might normally have had to introduce a new game console. The Xbox 360 was introduced in 2005. If it were a normal console cycle, Microsoft would have to introduce a new box this year. But Kinect let the company postpone the new console and keep gamers entertained with something new.
