The conventional wisdom is that Kinect was an albatross on Xbox One, making the system more expensive at launch and taking away resource power. But now, over a decade later, the Kinect-like Nex Playground has outsold Xbox hardware for November in the US, according to Circana.
Nex Playground came in third for hardware units sold last month, outpacing Xbox Series X|S. The only saving grace is that Xbox raked in more dollar sales, as Nex Playground retails for $250 but has been on sale for $200 over the holiday season. Overall, video game hardware sales were pretty bleak, reaching a low not seen since November 1995.
This might not be a total shock for those paying attention. Nex Playground actually outsold every PS5 and Xbox console bundle for a week last month in the US. The cube-shaped console features a camera to track body movements, similar to Kinect. Five games are pre-installed, with the option to purchase a subscription Play Pass for a larger library of games. It’s $49 for three months or $89 for a year.
Speaking with IGN, Circana senior director Mat Piscatella noted that the Nex Playground has been a “remarkable story” recently. “There could be a lesson here that more affordable, family-friendly gaming devices carry appeal during holiday gifting season,” Piscatella added.
On the software side, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 was the best-selling game last month in the US. However, the FPS faced a double-digit percentage decrease compared to 2024’s Black Ops 6, and Battlefield 6 is the top-selling game for 2025 to date.