Kinect priced "as aggressively as we can" - Thompson

After a brief period of confusion, where conflicting dates were communicated in the same press release, Microsoft this morning confirmed the European launch date for Kinect - and UK boss Neil Thompson has told GamesIndustry.biz he expects the device to "sell out" before Christmas.

The unit releases on November 10, a day after Activision's hugely anticipated Call of Duty: Black Ops, and Thompson was bullish on its prospects, despite concerns over its price point, insisting: "It's highly possible we will run out of product in the period through Christmas".

He added that exact shipment numbers were still unclear, with Microsoft yet to make "any decisions on country splits yet - we have to do that in the next few weeks."

However, he insisted the company would be "bringing great quantities of product in and replenishing the product on a very frequent basis. On all of the supply plans I've seen so far, I'm confident people who want to play Kinect will have every opportunity".

Kinect's price point, confirmed as £130 for a standalone unit in the UK, has been the subject of intense debate, but Thompson rubbished suggestions it was too expensive and claimed Microsoft had "priced it as aggressively as we can given the extensive costs of development to bring the technology to market."

He reiterated the company's position that it represented "very good value" as a "multiiplayer environment" versus rivals like Sony's Move (which requires additional purchases for more than one player), but conceded that since Kinect is an "integrated technology solution", this was not an option.

Despite analyst predictions of a Kinect price cut early next year, Thompson poured cold water on the idea. "I haven't even launched the product yet so I'm not even thinking about price cuts - it's not entered my consciousness," he said.

"We've set the price point we believe is great value to our partners and consumers ultimately, so everyone in that chain gets great value. We have no anticipation of making any move on price."

Ultimately, consumer activity will shape Microsoft's plans in this area. It's unlikely the company anticipated slicing £100 from the RRP of the original Xbox just two months after launch to stimulate sluggish sales.

But with UK retail reporting strong pre-order interest, Microsoft's confidence of a strong launch may not be misplaced.

"You've got to go with what you believe in and we fundamentally believe we're bring a whole new experience to the world of gaming," he said.

Meanwhile, Thompson said that, aside from Kinect Adventures (which comes bundled with the hardware, he expected new Harmonix IP Dance Central to be the best-selling Kinect title this Christmas.

"At this point my personal view based on the feedback I've seen, Dance Central seems to be pretty hot; Kinect Sports is pretty hot; and for kids, Kinectimals is incredibly engaging - in that order".