Wave goodbye, Microsoft drops Kinect from Xbox One
Microsoft has done what it said it never would and announced an Xbox One console that does not come bundled with Kinect.
Further highlighting the next-gen console’s struggling sales, Microsoft has confirmed that a Kinect-bereft Xbox One will be available globally from June 9.
Bringing the device in line with the pricing of the rival PS4, the Kinect-free Xbox One will set wannabe British owners back £349. This marks an £80 saving on the console’s original £429 launch price just last November.
“Beginning on June 9th, in all markets where Xbox One is sold, we will offer Xbox One starting at $399,” Phil Spencer, Head of Xbox announced in an official blog post.
He added: “This is a new console option that does not include Kinect.”
According to Spencer’s post, the Kinect-free Xbox One launch is in response to consumer calls to ditch the formally mandatory motion sensing peripheral.
“Since the beginning, we have focused on delivering great games and entertainment experiences for you,” he wrote.
“Your feedback matters to us and it shapes the products and services we build. Your feedback showed up in the Xbox One console we launched back in November and in the monthly updates we’ve delivered since.”
He added: “We’ve heard that you want more choices from Xbox One. You want a wide variety of options in your games and entertainment experiences and you also want options in your hardware selection.”
Although Microsoft will allow gamers to ditch Kinect from the Xbox One experience for the first time, the manufacturer has stressed that the peripheral is still key to its future console plans.
“To be clear, as we introduce this new Xbox One console option, Kinect remains an important part of our vision,” Spencer stated.
“We will continue to offer a premium Xbox One with Kinect bundle to deliver voice and gesture controls, biometric sign-in, instant personalization, instant scanning of QR codes, and enhanced features only available with Kinect in games such as “Kinect Sports Rivals,” “Just Dance 2014,” “Project Spark” and more.
“If you buy Xbox One for $399 and later decide you want to have all the experiences Kinect enables, we will also offer a standalone sensor for Xbox One later this fall. We’ll share more details about the standalone Kinect for Xbox One in the coming months.”
Are you more inclined to buy the Xbox One now that it is cheaper and not bundled with Kinect? Let us know via the comment boxes below.
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