Spotty Supplies Continue on Kinect, PlayStation Move, uDraw

Supplies of the new Kinect for Xbox 360, PlayStation Move for the PS3 and uDraw Game Tablet for the Wii remained spotty, according to a retail channel check that Consumer Electronics Daily did over the weekend and on Monday. Retailers continued to include the videogame accessories in their ad promotions for the last few shopping days before Christmas.

The Best Buy store that we visited in Levittown, New York, on Saturday had ample supplies of all three peripherals over the weekend. All its metro New York stores had the uDraw in stock Monday afternoon, according to Bestbuy.com, but the site listed the peripheral as “backordered.” Best Buy introduced Sunday a uDraw promotion for $10 off the $69.99 price for customers who also buy a THQ solo games at $29.99.

A $149.99 Kinect bundle that includes Microsoft’s motion sensor and the Kinect Adventures game was in stock on Best Buy’s site Monday, but the retailer’s pickup option wasn’t available for it at any store. The site had in stock a $99.99 PlayStation Move Starter Bundle that includes Sony’s new motion-sensing controller, PlayStation Eye camera and game Sports Champions. But the bundle wasn’t available at stores in Baldwin, the Bronx or Flushing, N.Y. or at two Manhattan stores or in Jersey City, N.J. The Kinect and Move bundles were advertised in Best Buy’s circular, but the retailer offered no discount and didn’t throw in any extra products.

UDraw was in stock at Gamestop.com and several of GameStop’s Long Island and New York City stores Monday afternoon, according to the site. But the Kinect bundle was available from the site only in SKUs more expensive than the $149.99 bundle. The site didn’t feature the $99.99 Move Starter Bundle but did have in stock a $79.98 Move bundle including the motion and navigation controllers for Sony’s PS3 motion-sensing system. The Move bundle including a 320-GB PS3 at $399.99 wasn’t available on the site, either. GameStop last month predicted that the Kinect and Move would be in short supply throughout the holiday season (CED Nov 19 p6).

Also promoting videogames heavily in its Sunday circular was Toys “R” Us. On the back page were offers for savings of $10 on all Kinect and Move games, as well as offers for a free PowerStand Charger, valued at $29.99, with a purchase of the 4-GB Xbox 360 Kinect bundle at $299.99, and a SingStar Dance game and glove, valued at $57.98, at no charge with a purchase of the 250-GB PS3 Move Sports Champions bundle at $299.99. The uDraw was available at Toysrus.com on Monday afternoon, as were the $149.99 Kinect bundle. But the 250-GB Xbox 360 Kinect bundle at $399.99 was out of stock, as were the $49.99 solo Move controller, $99.99 EyePet Move bundle, 320-GB PS3 Move bundle at $399.99 and $99.99 Move bundle.

Supplies were similarly spotty Monday on the Kinect and Move at Amazon.com and Walmart.com, although both sites had uDraw in stock. Several Kinect bundles were out of stock on Wal-Mart’s site. Walmart.com had the Move Starter Bundle in stock. But the 320-GB PS3 Move bundle was out of stock. That bundle was in stock at nine Long Island stores we checked online, but stock was listed as “limited” on it at Wal-Mart’s Valley Stream, N.Y., store there. UDraw was in stock at the nine Long Island stores, but was out of stock at its stores in White Plains, N.Y, and North Bergen and Garfield, N.J. There was only “limited stock” of uDraw at the Norwalk, Conn., store.

Amazon had uDraw and Kinect in stock. But the Move Starter Bundle and Move solo controller were only available from it though retail partner listings at the site at high prices -- the bundle starting at $120.90 and the controller starting at $71.99. Amazon’s weak Move supplies probably had something to do with Move products’ not placing among the best-selling videogame products on the site Monday afternoon. While the Kinect sensor was listed at No. 5 and uDraw was No. 13, the best-selling Move product was the 320-GB PS3 bundle at No. 74.

Demand for the Kinect was stronger than that for Move and uDraw last month, and the 360 console sold better than the Wii and PS3 consoles, according to NPD (CED Dec 13 p3). The 360 accounted for more than 40 percent of total U.S. game industry sales for the month, “driven by the successful launch of Microsoft’s Kinect,” said NPD analyst Anita Frazier. Xbox 360 accessories accounted for 60 percent of total accessory revenue for the month, the Kinect sensor finishing as the No. 1 accessory its first month available, she said. Five of the top 10 accessories in November were for the 360, she said. About 50 percent of the 360 consoles sold in November were bundled with the Kinect sensor, while only about 20 percent of the PS3s sold were bundled with a Move controller, an industry source said. Almost 191,000 uDraw Tablets were sold in its first month, THQ said, citing NPD data. NPD didn’t specify how many Kinect and Move accessories were sold.