A little over a week ago, Microsoft made a surprising announcement that they would be selling the Xbox One console without a Kinect bundled with it. This dropped the price of the Xbox One down to $399, making it more affordable and at the same time, putting it in competition with the Sony PlayStation 4 which is also priced at $399.
So what does this mean for the Kinect and those who bought it? Could it mean that Microsoft no longer believes in it? Well the good news is that Microsoft has not abandoned the Kinect. In fact Microsoft’s Larry “Major Nelson” Hyrb took to his latest podcast to reassure gamers that Microsoft is not and will not be abandoning the Kinect.
“We are not discontinuing Kinect or support for it. We still have a whole team of folks working on that. But we want to give everybody who would like to get in on the Xbox One action an opportunity.” Hyrb reassured gamers just last week that Microsoft would be continuing to improve the Kinect, it’s just that the device is now optional when you decide to purchase your Xbox One console.
After all, if you’re just looking to play normal games that might not require a Kinect, it does seem unfair to have gamers pay an extra $100 for an accessory that they might never use, right? Microsoft has also expressed interest in possible processor gains now that the Kinect is no longer bundled with the device, which in turn could lead to possible improvements in video game performances.