Kinect Costs $56 To Manufacture According To UBM TechInsights

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Richard Walker

Microsoft's Kinect device has been doing rather well during its first week in stores (two days in the UK and Europe) and what's more, it's managing to buck a trend in being a piece of hardware that is actually selling for more than it cost to produce. At least that's what the experts at UBM TechInsights say.

Apparently, each Kinect unit that retails for $150, costs approximately $56 to manufacture, which is thanks in no small part to the ingenuity of PrimeSense's proprietary software. The low cost production of the tech, produced by the Israeli company, provides Kinect with image processing, audio and video by way of its proprietary software, as well as four microphones, an infrared camera and two image sensors.

"The strength of the design is the huge design win for the Israeli company PrimeSense," said Allan Yogasingam, a technical marketing manager at UBM TechInsights. "They’ve provided the most innovative portion of the Kinect with their image processor, audio and video interface."

Of course, there are other costs to factor into the Kinect equation such as Research & Development, prototyping, advertising, promotion (that Cirque du Soleil thing probably didn't come cheap), packaging and that kind of stuff, but the device can still be marked as a tick in Microsoft's win column.

Head over to our Kinect Launch Zone for all the latest Kinect reviews.

[Via GameInformer]

Comments
81
  • Bang Howdy thats a lot of money!
  • So removing the 2nd cpu wasn't so much about keeping the costs down, adn the profit high.
  • My Hate List: #1 EA #2 Microsoft #3 Apple.
  • So it costs about $60 to make, but they're selling it for just under triple the manufacturing price? Thats M$ all over =P
  • Why are people surprised? Lol
  • @#5: Exactly. Even if this is costing 1 thrird. It's only the production costs, not the costs for developing, the marketing, transportation to the shops around the world and on, and on. Plus the retailer would like a slice too. I thinks it isn't that big of a profit. But it will be soon. Cause after a few years MS did manage to bring the costs down for producing the 360, that trend will be followed by Kinect too. Even as they would make big bucks out of it, let us hope that some of that money will be spend on killer new games. :) There's a huge lack of it right now.
  • @3 Yea, you hate them so much you use their products all the time.....grow up
  • Actually that is cheaper than what I expect. I thought it would NOT be profitable for MS right now, the same way the 360 and PS3 weren't profitable for the first couple years.
  • so they could of put more power and 4 player too
  • Only $56 to make? Then why aren't these things in ample supply? Sounds like MS is intentionally keeping in low stock to drum up demand.
  • I'd wager the markup on your clothes is bigger then that.
  • @#7 - Just because you hate a company doesn't mean you can avoid using their products sometimes. Lots of people hate Walmart, but still have to shop there. And people may hate Microsoft and/or Apple, but they have to use their operating systems and programs for their computers. And I hate some companies, but like some of their games. Just because someone owns a 360 to play games on, doesn't mean they have to actually like Microsoft or anything that they do. Besides that, the insult "grow up" doesn't even make sense in that context.
  • No suprise! Am not too bothered about kinect but its not that bad value, anyone whos forked out for nintendo peripherals will know what am on about, plus i agree with #6 because M$ must have spent shit loads shoving this product in everyones face.. even my fuckin mum knows what kinect is!
  • You guys are morons if you think that Microsoft is making a ton of money off of the the Kinect. Just read what the article says, that it takes $56 to manufacture. Plus you have to account with all of the rest of the cost that it takes to bring a product to market. So the actual cost of the product would be over $100. You have to expect that they will be making a profit somewhere or else you will only be complaining about Sony making too much profit.
  • It's not that bad compared to the shitty ipods who are 200+$ and cost less than 10 to make
  • KINECT=SHIT NUFF SED
  • I'm not hating on Kinect from what i've seen the tech is pretty solid it's just a case as with all consoles the best titles that utilize the technology to it's best potential don't start appearing until a year after release. I'll sit it out until it's not a stream of Wii style games or dance/fitness titles before I even consider buying it. So $56 or $1 to produce it can stay on the shelf at my local store until something worthwhile arrives. I'm perfectly happy using my controller to navigate menus and i'm more than capable of pushing a power button until that day comes.
  • Ok this kind of markup happens for food, TVs, appliances, furniture, EVERYTHING, and is even worse at hotels, movie theatres, and amusements parks. Don't be so surprised and mad.
  • The price is what has put most people off buying it. I would get it for £70 at most. I can see a few price drops in the future, they got a big enough gap still to make them money even if they half the price.
  • Thats a very reasonable mark up compared to alot of things out there. For those in the UK who buy Gillette razor blades, each blade costs 5p to make yet gets sold for £2.43. So a four pack of blades costs you £9.72 when it only cost them 20p to make. Now thats what you call a mark up.
  • I'm glad Microsoft makes a profit on this. While I have no interest in Kinect, it being profitable will help keep money flowing into research and development in their games division. Also keep in mind that price is just what it costs to actually make it; not ship it, pack it, advertise it and pay taxes for it. So the true cost to Microsoft as likely far more. Also keep in mind the retailer you buy it from makes a small profit on it too. So lets keep a calm head about it, after all this is the beauty of capitalism!
  • I love how this "news" is circulating the internet. Everyone is like "OMG IT ONLY COSTS MICROSOFT 56 BUCKS TO MAKE KINECT!!!!" I think everyone who posts this fucking useless article is forgetting that the 56 bucks are for PARTS ONLY. There is assembly, there is research and development, there is marketing, there are employees to pay, there is giving a cut of the profits to the companies that sold Microsoft the parts. Just get off your high horse and realize Microsoft isn't making that much money off this thing.
  • @16 You're an idiot. Probably haven't even played Kinect. Calling it shit and can't even spell. Typical hater.
  • @17 Agreed. Lol, I love kinect to be honest. Played a demo of it a couple days ago at some store around here, and needless to say, with my friends, and my family, it was awesome. @16 Something may be shit to you, but thats only because you either didn't play it, and think its horrible, or because you did try it, but wasn't with the right people. I love kinect, and cannot wait to get one :)
  • I wonder how much an unopened kinect unit signed by major nelson and kudo tsunoda would go for.
  • I don't see how anybody is surprised. This is the way most technology typically sells for. MS is just hoping to make up the development cost of the project. Anybody remember the first RAZOR cell phone, it cost like $300 at release and now you can buy them for $20. Development of new technology usually cost way more then the technology itself.
  • How much more would it have cost to make if they hadn't removed all those extra features though? Of course there's mark up on things in the world. Go to the Olive Garden and you drop 10 bucks on ONE PLATE of spaghetti and marinara. What irritates me is seeing something like this after we were told that they were taking away features to keep costs down. Typically there is almost NO markup on hardware. When you work retail and you sell an Xbox, you don't make any money on it unless you sell a game and some accessories with it as well. The amount of markup on this HARDWARE shows that they have little faith in the products that are coming out with it. If they were confident in what they were doing, they could have manufactured the FULL Kinect, turned it around for the same price, and STILL have made a profit. That's how the video gaming retail industry used to work before the up-and-up's figured out we were living, breathing ATMS.
  • I don't really care how much it costs and what the profit margin is. Everyone should know that they would even release at a loss just because of games. When games starts selling like crazy, MS gets a share and thus making up a lot more for losses in sales of actual hardware. It's really simple logic that many fail to see. You think that you spend a lot of Kinect, but think of it that way. Kinect=2.5 brand new games ( I think they retail for standard $50-$60??) and it goes without saying you will buy a lot more than only 2/3 games. Win-win
  • I'd just like to point out that although some kinect games are very wii like the fitness games are on a whole new level. wii fit is a joke for increasing your fitness, i barely ever broke into a sweat playing. However i've got kinect with your shape:fitness evolved, and did a fitness routine on that for 20 minutes and was shattered. Before you assume i'm just unfit or overweight i ran the amsterdam marathon on the 17th oct and finished with a time of 3:47:58. To summerise Kinect will actually help fat kids lose weight
  • you guys are fucking stupid!! how old are you dumb fucks? have you ever takin any business class's even in high school?? costs 35 to make, microsoft add 20 for profit, retailers then multiply the price microsoft sell the product to them by 2.5 (what most retailers mark up products, to make a profit and cover overheads like wages, utilities, rent for shop etc) i would say M$ aint gettimg a very good deal and are looking at probably a loss on every kinect that they sell, then again they coin it back in the royalties/licence fees from games that use the system to operate and then there is all the years it was in development and software developement.
  • ye but how much did it cost to develope
  • @12 How can you "hate" a company but "like" their games? That's like someone hating Burger King but likes the Whopper. If you dislike a company, then you're pretty much disliking any kind of product they release. How can you "hate" Microsoft but then own a 360? Doesn't make sense to me. You might as well say I hate having sex but I love having an orgasm If you own a product from a company you don't take a liking to, then you say " I neither like/dislike them"
  • I hope everyone realizes pretty much anything that is sold costs less to produce than it sells for. 1. The company needs to cover production, distribution, marketing, and many other costs. 2. They do need to turn a profit.
  • EVERYONE STOP COMPLAINING AND HERE'S WHY: 1. Microsoft knows there was going to be high demand for this, so why not make 3 times profit when it comes out? 2. Microsoft isn't a bunch of idiots. When demand finally starts decreasing, they're going to lower the price, bringing the price you pay even closer to their production price. the biggest reason: 3. All you crying kids are saying "Oh my God, they're selling it for THREE times what it costs to make them??" Meanwhile, you pay $60 for a game that it costs them under a dollar to make. And they sell hundreds of millions of them without a single crying kid about that price. Think before you speak, children.
  • I think everyone's also forgetting that it comes bundled with a game...
  • Doesnt anyone watch DRAGONS DEN? i remember a product the cost £7 pound to manufacter and the price they said was resonable was £29.99, thats how there world makes profit. Nothing differant.
  • @3 Sooo... you hate success? Commie. @34 Re: (3.) Which brings us back to the point made at the end of the article. That disc may cost $1, but the cost of creating the game is way more. After recouping loses due to paying employees to make the game and advertising, most games don't start "making money" until 3-4 months after release or later. COD and Halo do not count in this example. Kinect may only cost $56 to build, but the man hours put into creating it and testing it and the ad money spent to hype it up... It isn't making them any profit now, guaranteed.
  • Wow. I hope everyone that gets pissed off about this doesn't buy name brand shoes......
  • me nd a few mates used Kinect in a GAME store today. We came to the simple conclusion that no matter who you are Kinect will make you look like a twat...
  • Most of you guys would fail at buissness.... There are other costs for you know... Shipping... Production....
  • its made by an israeli company...now im definatly avoiding it...i dont wanna fund terrorism
  • # 41, learn to stand on your own feet, lemming.
  • No suprise at all here. People keep saying how Microsoft is making almost $100 per Kinect bundle and thats more than likely not even close. Sure it cost $56 to make it, but their(as in Microsoft) not selling it for $150. Retailers are. Theres gotta be profits that go every which way, for developers, retailers, a whole bunch of other crap that I don't know about. @41- lol @16- Your dumb @17- Yeah your right on saying that there won't be any worth while games until next year, but it all depends on the person. I'm an idiot and spend way too much money on games so I bought this at launch, same with Move, Rock Band 3 keyboard bundle, and just ordered the Pro Guitar. Sonic is a solid game though for the "hardcore" gamers.
  • @41 - You are retarded. How about you go grab an almanac and look up Israel before you start posting dumb shit on here. People think that this mark-up is a lot. How about the mark-up on $60 copy of Halo or Call Of Duty? Umm... in case you haven't noticed a blank DVD is only $0.60 and to put the coding on the disc is cheap too. The thing is Microsoft has to make-up the cost for everything else. Just like a game dev, they spend millions making it, so they can sell it for $60 and sell millions more and then return the money it cost. It is simple economics people, and this is coming from a high school student.
  • @44 - i wouldn't have posted anything i wasnt already well informed about boy so why dont you stay at school alittle longer, you may learn to be a complete moron
  • agreed with #44: anyone who is acting surprised & outraged is an idiot... items typically sell things for 3 times what they cost to make. How do you think they sell $60 games for $15-$20 on the discount rack and still turn a profit. This markup pays for everything... production, manufacturing, R&D, advertising, labor. Do you people honestly think this stuff is paid for at the companies expense in the end?
  • @3 GZ on hating a company owned by a man who gives more than half his money to charity.
  • See I just don't understand people getting upset by this. Kinect is more than worth the money. SO stop complaining about it, big deal. A company wants to make a profit to stay in business and further it's self and bring out NEW technology like this. So I don't see a problem.
  • I think, i'll wait a year with buying kinect, i want to see which direction games for it will go. Plus, the price may go down.
  • @ 3 - They like most things piss me off but I'll bet dollars to doobies that you still buy each one of those companies products in some light. Meh. I honestly expected this to be even in the manufacture/profit department and while I am hearing great things about Kinect that I completely waved off, I'm still satisfied that I have an extra $150 in my pocket. I'll wait for more releases on the product and a slight price drop. Or a gift.
  • They should stop being greedy then. Make it $80...fucking greedy bitches.
  • @3, your probably one of the 'jealous' Apple haters. Apple doesn't screw over everybody in the way that M$ does.
  • Didn't know it was so affordable to make a kinect camera. I see they will make the 1 billion dollars they spent in making the product in no time.
  • OOps I meant marketing the product
  • Lame, I'll be visiting the family for most of that weekend. That ticker thing would be brilliant though.
  • Money, money and money!!! this what this all about hehehehe M$ need it all times. ASSASSIN'S CREED: BROTHERHOOD COMING NEXT WEEK GUYS!!! Forget this Kinect just look forward Assassin's Creed next week!!! :D
  • The good thing is that Kinect's price will go down to $99 in under a year. Maybe I'll buy one then....provided that they make some games I actually want. The hands free tech isn't enough of a sell for me.
  • @ 52. I completely agree. I'm not an Apple fan while I do like the specialty and cheap programs that they offer with their Macs. No matter what MS screws over people the most like the random XBL price hike to rip off people buying the Kinect and the $50 pricetag with the Wii/Eyetoy shovelware that the Kinect has.
  • What a lot you seem to forget its your not paying for just the kinect!!! Yes it may only cost x amout to make but your also pay the wages for ever one that was involved in its development. Everytime I see people bitch about how much a game or a bet of tech cost to manufacture I wonder just how you think these thing are made! Its not a free world so why shold it be free to make games or tech????? For your £129 your paying for the manufature, wages of everyone involved, promoting of the device and the continuing development of new games/software that will use kinect. Same gose for games you have to pay for all the same things.
  • @12 your dumb as hell if you think you HAVE to use a companies anything. Make you're own computer use Linex (or how ever the hell it's spelt) for your OS there you go you didn't use Apple or Microsoft. If you use any of there products you are a hypocrite. and the grow up thing makes sense because only a prepubescent moron that doesn't know what they're talking about would make a comment like that, good call @7
  • Now go to google and find out how much the first Kinect prototype costs and how long it's been in production. Toodles.
  • So like microsoft's spending $500million USD on advertising alone at launch eclipses their projected initial sales figures. Forget about product costs, R&D etc.... Personally I want MS o make billions in profit so they can keep ploughing cash into more games and continually improving xbox live etc... Does anyone really begrudge a company making money? Honestly, don't want a company to make money? don't buy their stuff. Pretty simple. I buy MS, apple, sony, nintendo without bias. Seriously, why hate on a company when you can enjoy the best each has to offer. Value for money is different for each individual. If I am happy paying X amount of dollars for a game or system then I will buy it. If not I wait until it's cheaper. I for one am not getting kinect until I see some 'real' use for me as a 'core' gamer. I can see people who like the wii liking kinect and it is an interesting bit of kit, but I will wait until the potential is realized before investing in it.
  • Most of you guys are missing the point when you say that Kinect is no different than any other product that gets marked up 50% or more. That's all fine and true... But the thing with Kinect is that it's not a "buy it and be done with it" type product. Kinect will only be successful and worthwhile when developers are willing to devote their top design teams to making games for it, and that WILL NOT happen until Kinect is thoroughly integrated into gamers homes. All we're going to see for a while are casual games and maybe some bigger games with Kinect features tacked on, but nothing that really makes Kinect an indispensable experience. Sure the price on Kinect will drop eventually, but if Microsoft wants to establish Kinect as a valid device for core gamers, they need to get Kinect into as many homes as possible, as quickly as possible. But that $150 price tag just isn't going to cut it. Kinect may get there, I'm not calling it a failure, but $150 just won't get it in enough homes to entice your EAs or Activisions or Bethesdas to spend AAA game budgets on games specifically designed with Kinect in mind.
  • Im just going to put this out there and say I couldn't care how much it cost to make as Kinect is awsome and I would of happily paid more for it :)
  • Manufacture for $56 but what was the cost for R&D? And one for the PS fans who have commented. How much is it for the PS Move to get one player up and running with the full set of controllers? In the UK, I worked out it'll be around £90. PS Move Starter kit (Camera & 1 x controller) also you would need an additional controller and then a navigation controller (the one with out a glowy bit). Did i say that was just for one player! or £130 for the Kinect which can have 2 active players but track upto 6 players. I'm not bias between the consoles, i've had all 3 at one point or another but for some reason the experience i get from the Xbox keeps pulling me back. Yes, i have to pay for playing online but i would with some PC games, which i have, more than i would like to remember. At the end of the day they have to recover the money they've put in to make the Kinect from the first pencil stroke on a piece of paper to the product that a lot of us now have in our homes, including myself. An the technology behind is awesome. Yes the price tag is probably a little high to draw a lot of new xbox users in but if Microsoft are at least breaking even at least then it shouldn't be to long before the price starts to drop and then Bill Gate's dream might almost be complete of having a Microsoft product in everyone living room.
  • Maybe it costs only $58 to make the sensor, but I bet that fancy software the article mentions had some hefty license fees.
  • The price is fair. People pay ridiculous amounts of money for things everyday and don't even realize it. Kinect's mark up shouldn't get you upset. The following mark up is something everyone uses and overpays for by A LOT more: http://www.nationalpost.com/Mark+text+messages+expert/1702339/story.html
  • im not wasting my money to make Microsoft a big profit
  • to be honest, I thought kinect wouldn't make a profit what-so-ever...
  • It's All About Money These Day's
  • Hey, Microsoft has to make money back from the hardware failures in the past. This seems to be a good way to do it.
  • @3 Where's Activision on that list? OT: No matter, I still won't be buying Kinect.
  • Confirms what I thought all along, kinect is a piece of over-priced crap.
  • If you want to read the entire article about the parts inside the Kinect, check it out here. http://www.eetimes.com/electronics-news/4210649/Kinect-s-BOM-roughly--56--teardown-finds-
  • I'll get Kinect when it has real games AND when it's under $99.99.
  • Yep thats Microsoft :p
  • Thats really with any Technology now a days. I Don't think my Xbox 360 Elite costs $399 to Make Then they sell it for the Same Price, There would be no Profit. The original Price Went from $499 to $399 (When I Bought mine) & Now it $249. Now with the 360 Slim being $249 & with a 250 gig HDD. Makes you wonder how much a New Xbox 360 Costs to make! Probably like $115 or less.
  • reminds me of when the ps3 first came out. lets sell it for $600 when it cost like $100 to make
  • Everyone entitled to make a profit!
  • im with #11..... also if you want it to be cheaper don't live in a capitalist country
  • if this was 500 € i still buy it i like this very much!!
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