When the Xbox One was first released back in 2013 you couldn’t buy the console without Kinect, that’s why it was priced higher than the PlayStation 4, which worked nicely in Sony’s favor. It was just one of the factors that allowed Sony to sell significantly more PS4 units soon after launch, Microsoft realized this after a few months and unbundled Kinect from Xbox One. Now it’s even dropping support for Kinect gestures from the new Xbox One experience.
If you have a Kinect hooked up to the Xbox One you can use it to control the console’s dashboard by just raising your hand and swiping left or right to navigate the dashboard. Microsoft has now confirmed that you will no longer be able to do this once the upcoming major Xbox One update has been installed.
The company is pretty clear about the reason why Kinect gestures for dashboard navigation are being dropped, Microsoft’s Mike Ybarra says that the feature wasn’t really being used by a significant number of people, hence the decision to drop it altogether. He does say that these features have been cut from the new Xbox One experience “for now,” who knows, they might arrive at some point in the future but that hasn’t been confirmed just yet.
Aside from the updated user interface Xbox One owners also get backwards compatibility with Xbox 360, an ability they have long been waiting for, the new experience continues to support voice commands which also provide an easier way to navigate through the console.
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