Sony, Microsoft give sales updates on motion control

The battle over video game motion control devices has moved to the accounting department.

Sony and Microsoft are both claiming to have momentum on their side with their new devices, releasing updated sales figures. No matter how you slice it, though, it’s clear that both the PlayStation Move and Kinect are enjoying a strong holiday season.

Microsoft kicked off the sales updates late Monday, with word that Kinect has sold 2.5 million units in its first 25 days. That puts the company well on track to reaching its internal projection of 5 million sales before the end of the calendar year.

Kinect has been selling out at retail since its launch and is quickly assuming “must have” status this holiday season.

Sony, meanwhile, says it has sold in (or, shipped to retail) more than 4.1 million Move motion controllers since that device went on sale in September. The number, while impressive, is a bit less firm, as the number of sales to customers remains unknown.

The larger question about Move's sales is how they breakdown geographically. Move is still fairly easy to find at U.S. retail, but was reportedly an enormous hit in Europe.

While the milestones are impressive, both companies have got a long way to go before they catch up with Nintendo – which has sold an average of 46,000 Wii Remote controllers per day in the United States since the Wii's release.