Kinect-less Xbox One doesn't sound very likely

One of the juiciest rumors circling around is that Microsoft will introduce a Xbox One bundle without Kinect later this year, presumably at a lower price point than $500. But new comments from Microsoft United Kingdom marketing director Harvey Eagle make that possibility sound pretty far-fetched.

"We're in it for the long haul," Eagle told the BBC today following the announcement of £30/$50 Xbox One price cut in the UK. "Kinect is absolutely integral to Xbox One."

Speaking with GameSpot earlier today, Eagle did not name-drop Kinect specifically, but said the complete Xbox One package--comprising the console and Kinect--is something Microsoft is committed to.

[MightyNoX]

Microsoft backing off their DRM was a 'not very likely' scenario too and we all know that worked out.

[LAWSON72]

As well as the mandatory Kinect.

They pulled a 180 before, they could do it again.

[darthv72]

Yet Kinect is something they are really banking on in terms of adoption rate in comparison to the 360 version. Meaning that with a kinect in every box, its what separates them from the other consoles on the market.

No sense in backpeddling on something they have worked hard in building as a centerpiece to their platform. Regardless of how gamers view it, the kinect is the main difference and key ingredient in making the platform a success in its own right.

It's okay to accept that kinect will remain a part of the XB1 echo system. Many who have no interest would likely still have no interest if said piece were removed. Its just that simple.

[Bigpappy]

Its not going to happen. I M$ sell X1 for $99, it will still have Kinect in the box. Just get over it and move on. Don't want, don't buy.

[gaffyh]

If TitanFall bundle doesn't push up sales as needed, there will DEFINITELY be a Kinect-less bundle.

[UnHoly_One]

There will never be a Kinect-less bundle.

It's not going to happen.

Like they said in the article, it's a part of the system.

[gaffyh]

@above - like there's never going to be a price cut in a few months after launch? Or like there's no way to switch DRM off?

[Shadonic]

@darth

Yea i was skeptical after the first kinect which i supported but didnt want to jump in just yet. I've been seeing a lot of people edge more towards supporting it.

[jmc8888]

I understand long haul and all of that. I understand the...it makes us different...seemingly oblivious that half or what it does the PS camera can do, and much of what it currently doesn't, a software update and microphone can do.

Snap and HDMI in are truly the differentiators. Sony won't implement Snap, and they obviously the hardware doesn't contain HDMI in.

Much of the software uses of Kinect and microphones again either already has a comparable version from Sony, and most of what isn't, can get there through software updates.

The difference though is that the individual user can choose whether or not they want one.

They should backpeddle because Microsoft is in a losing position.

Higher priced
Poorer performing
A dearth of 1st party games until the next U.S. president is elected/sworn in. That's Nov 2016/Jan 2017 tmieframe.

The numbers are showing a rout in every area of the world they are both launched in, and it's getting worse.

They should backpeddle because if they don't drastically change the trends of the numbers, they will lose massively.

They have this E3. By then we'll have a more concrete information about where the sales trends are then for both consoles. We'll have a greater idea of what Microsoft plans to do exclusive game wise.

Why should people bank on Kinect? Seriously. It's not the key ingredient for the Xbox One success, it's the key ingredient for its failure.

Few want to play motion games. Most people that have an Xbox One do not want to play them even if they have the Kinect2.

Notice the two companies banking most on motion gaming, Microsoft and Nintendo, are having their clocks cleaned. Coincidence? Not really.

The problem with your thinking darth is that 'regardless of how gamers view it' is detached from reality. The reality is...gamers buy consoles. So if gamers don't view it positively, or necessary, they don't want to buy it. If they don't want to buy it, they won't buy it.

The guts of two systems dictates that Xbox One needs to be at a lower price then the PS4, just to decently compete. Right now they are $100 more and are starting to trend towards Wii U territory.

Hey I like the Wii U gamepad. I see it's usage. But I also see WHY most people, even if they wanted a new Nintendo system, didn't want to pay a premium price for an underpowered console, just because of an add-on many people don't want.

The Wii U is also stuck at a rock and a hard place, and you see how gamers responded.

It's not that simple. The simple fact is many people who bought Sony, really wanted an Xbox console. Others like me, wanted to buy a Sony and a Xbox. Then the crapstorm the idiots at MS started happened.

What will get me to buy an XB1? A price commensurate to it's GAMING tech, and a bunch of exclusive games that I can't buy anywhere else.

The XB1 doesn't have that. They have a premium price for $100 in graphics gaming tech, and few studios to pump out 1st party exclusives.

Until that price is at $249-299 and they have a dozen Halo's/Gears of War and other similar quality games (but can be different genres too of course) then I'm not going to entertain buying one.

[jmc8888]

If it comes with or without Kinect makes no difference to me, it just needs to have that price and those games. But it should make a difference to Microsoft to know that to reach that point where people like me, tens of millions of gamers by the way, even get interested in buying an XB1, that we don't want or need the added expense to Microsoft of throwing in a peripheral that we don't want.

I don't want to be sign-ed in with a camera. It wasn't great with the 360, and pressing a button on the controller is just fine. Hardly going backwards.

Voice commands? Can be done with any microphone.

These things are both actions the PS4 can do. They don't differentiate the Xbox One from PS4. They aren't what most people want.

We've had five years of Kinect, through it's E3 reveal and all the years since. If it was a good product, people would want it.

Instead, from just about everybody that's used one, has had their fill of it, and don't want it for gaming. Where are all the great ideas? These number very few, and most of them revolve around using a microphone, which doesn't have to be a Kinect.

Good ideas, if they existed, should have been turned into games many years ago. It's a niche product, and one that if anything is declining.

20+ million Kinect's sold is plenty enough reason to put out games for them. There have been tons of Kinect games. Few worthy of any note.

How much waste of money overall would 40 million Kinect2's be if 35 million of these people couldn't care less that it was included? Not only that, but how much of a waste would it be by standing steadfast on an idiotic ludicrous position to keep the Kinect2 included, if it kept another 40 million people from purchasing the console?

Why would they? Simple...something more powerful and cheaper is on the market. That also offers an option that if they change their mind, or simply don't have enough money initially, they can pick up a camera and have most of what XB1 offers in that way?

Also where's Milo? He was the promise of Kinect, and was cancelled, and I don't see anyone else stepping in to fill that void on Kinect2. Without something like Milo, the promise of Kinect will never be met.

[PSVita]

In fact they said it was impossible to unplug because it was "built from the ground up to work with kinect" and that obviously wasn't true.

[UnHoly_One]

You ever think that maybe they had to change parts of the OS to make it work without Kinect?

Maybe when they said that, there was literally no way to do some basic functions without it.

We'll never know for sure, all I'm saying is that maybe that wasn't a "lie" so much as one more thing that they had to change?

[PSVita]

MA PR lying about being able to remove DRM

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

They're a software company period

[AngelicIceDiamond]

@Mighty Give me a reason MS would back out of Kinect.

DRM and forced Kinect is Kind Of, sort of a big deal just a little.

But 400$ consoles with Kinect in it that's unpluggable that works great needs to be taken out?

I don't see the logic in that Why is that whats wrong with it now?

[Evilsnuggle]

Microsoft has sold the idea of a all in 1 media hub to its board of directors . The same board of directors that want to sell the xbox brand. If Microsoft remove kinect then m$ admit it's was wrong about the overall design of x1. It's much better for Microsoft to lower x1 40-60 and bundled it with free software.

[jmc8888]

No because that's still a losing position.

It's better to be wrong and FIX IT, or in this case, be on terms where you understand you need to fix what you can fix at this point, rather then fool oneself that a direction that is failing, will work if only you do something on the periphery.

Hey I understand it's what our leaders do all the time regarding the worldwide economy. Extend and pretend. But it doesn't work.

If it ain't broke don't fix it. Right you've heard of that.

Well if it IS broke, then fix it.

How does still being more expensive and packing in a game fix Microsoft's problems?

Do people really think that 1/2 of the people looking to buy consoles are gong to be swayed into buying a XBox One because they added a game and slightly cut the price, yet still being more expensive? It doesn't work like that.

Also outside of the US, a game addition wouldn't even matter much. Remember folks that since Microsoft was already offering free games with the purchase of an XB1 in Europe/UK, then when those deals expire, what would people tend to do..buy more after the free stuff is gone? Or buy less?

So what alot of people have failed to realize is that by adding Titanfall in the U.K., they've merely put themselves in the same position where they were with free FIFA before that expired.

However to effectively compete with Sony, they need to be at a $299-349 price point and invest as heavily in new/acquired devs to give people a reason to own an Xbox One.

If you have a PC or PS4, why would you buy an XB1?

The ONLY real and valid answer are exclusives. But Microsoft doesn't have the studios to even compete with Sony who has the cheaper price, better multiplats, AND more 1st party devs.

The only two ways for Microsoft to compete are price and 1st party exclusive games.

The exclusive games won't come until at least late 2016-2017, so all they have is price.

That's it. The only thing they can change to compete better with Sony is price, and they need to undercut them, because of their inferior gaming tech and the ESRAM bottleneck making that tech even worse then on paper.

$299 is where they should be. $349 at the very least.

So they either have to bite that bullet, or remove the Kinect2 as much of that price disadvantage is because of Kinect.

[XiSasukeUchiha]

Seriously most people don't want, and even if they get it there never going to use it. For the best of your fans make an Kinectless Xbone for lower price of $300.00. Make the Kinect an option, not force on If people want it they will get it on there own free will not because of forced marketing!

[JeffGUNZ]

Coming from someone who has never used the X1, great insight!

Actually, I f'n hated the original kinect but could not imagine using my X1 without Kinect 2.0. It really is something completely different then the original Kinect.

[Bernlock]

I agree my kinnect 1 sat and collected dust. Kinect 2.0 is great and I cant imagine why people would unplug it.

[jasonc1213]

I agree with these two guys. I love my kinect and it has improved my living room experience (as promised). Maybe one day I will love it for games. D4? Sports Rivals? We will see. Either way, I'm happy.

[Ace Killa 08]

I've used the kinect to my knowledge and still do not find it useful. The voice commands are great, but not a solid feature that sell the peripheral. I have no played any game that uses the camera, nor have I thought about it. DR3, BF4, Forza use the kinect, but are not built around it or use its full features. I mention those games as that is what I currently have.

Overall, if the option to buy an X1 with no kinect were available I would have taken it.

[jmc8888]

Voice commands do not need a Kinect to implement.

[UnHoly_One]

I didn't want it, but I got it anyway, and now I love it and use it every single day.

It's amazing what can happen if you are open minded to new things.

[king_george]

Even tho im a Playstation guy i still wanna get the X1 and use kinect. Never understood the hate for it

[hello12]

Disk tray removed is more likely than Kinect been removed. All the work put in to updating the current Microsoft OS would suddenly become irrelevant if you removed it.

Its not going to happen, lot of x box users like the Kinect it is a HD camera and you can move around the dashboard using it. So get real its not going anywhere.

[UnHoly_One]

I said the same thing about the disc drive being removed before those rumors started to go around about that.

I predict we'll see a new XB1 with a 1 Tb hard drive and no optical disc drive within the year.

[theWB27]

Don't care how unpopular the sentiment is...please don't remove the Kinect. Stick it out...

[Bernlock]

agreed I love the integration with it. The majority of people who are voicing their opinions on it probably have never even tried it

[Gazondaily]

^^THIS THIS THIS^^ x 9001

Stick it out MS! Reduce the price of the console but don't take out Kinect.

[christocolus]

I agree. It would cost them a lot though.

[CYCLEGAMER]

I agree, I wouldn't want two ps4's in my home or in the market. I like having 2 completely different systems with 2 different experiences, competiting against each other.

People want the xb1 to be a weak ps4, I would rather it stick to what it does well, and provide me with a unique experience.

[jmc8888]

I think, with all due respect, you and most people regarding this situation have something of a perception problem.

How is the XB1 different, when the PS4 camera can do most of what XB1 Kinect2 can do?

People are just pretending there is some vast difference, and there isn't.

Thus how would selling it without a Kinect, make the XB1 so different? No one is saying you can't buy a Kinect.

If you want it, you could purchase it, just like PS4 owners can buy a camera.

XB1 with Kinect bundled in and without are the same product, as long as you have the option to buy it.

I simply don't get the people who think Kinect differentiates itself from the PS4, and why so much of this is usually predicated on a microphone input, which means you don't even need a Kinect or a PS4 camera...all you need is the software capable of picking up voice commands from a microphone.

Xbox Snap...no need for Kinect.
Xbox On...no need for Kinect.
Zombies hear me making noise...no need for Kinect.

Again, having the Kinect available for purchase along with a lower priced console is the same thing as having it bundled with a higher cost.

Because so many people are wrongly thinking...well if it's not included it won't be supported in games.

Well how many good Kinect 1 games were there? Not many. So what are you missing?

Also, how many PS4 camera options were added in games and it WAS NOT bundled with the PS4?

You hear that....Kinect and PS4 camera options were both used pretty similarly, but Sony didn't need to bundled it. So there goes that fallacy of needing to bundle it.

So again, while most people somehow wrongly think that Kinect won't be supported unless it is bundled, thus they don't want to risk receiving less Kinect games by removing it, that mostly are crap, what they really are doing, is stifling the adoption of the XBox One as a whole, and are ACTUALLY RISKING support of REAL GAMES.

Does this really make much sense? No. But that's what tons of XB1 fans are doing.

So go ahead and hold a crazy position that it can't be unbundled and can't be supported unless it was bundled while you actually scare away devs that make REAL GAMES because the XB1 is not selling well.

At that point you'd have to say...Kinect/SNAP led to DDR3 which lead it needing a memory bandwidth boosting...which led to the ESRAM...which led to its bottleneck...and led to the space not being available to put a comparable GPU in the XBox One...all of this which led to a higher price...which led people to want to keep this tech in there...which kept the price high...which kept people away from buying it...which kept devs of real games away from supporting it.

All in all it's just silly they bundle it in there forcibly, and it's just silly people ignore the 1st grade type level of thought needed to see this as silly.

[CYCLEGAMER]

My first question to you would be....do you own an xb1?? If you do not, I would find it very hard for you to tell me how usless the kinect 2 is or how similar it is to the ps4 camera. With all due respect, if you did a little research, you would know that the kinect 2 is FAR MORE ADVANCED and does alot more and is much more capable than ps4 camera. I just think it is a little weird that people say its the same thing when its clearly not, but this seems to mainly come from Sony fans.

Does the ps4 camera have a heart rate monitor, infared scanner, facial recognition, force detection, 1080p camera etc...?

Don't get me wrong, I think maybe one day in the future they will bundle it without the Kinect, and I do believe in consumer choice, however this is the way MS wants us to experience THEIR console, and to be honest, the operating system and its features just works better with it. It is truly a seemless futuristic, next gen experience.

IMO selling the xb1 without the kinect right now would say, "we do not believe in our own vision of the the future". IMO the xb1 becomes boring without the kinect. I am an individual who is not just a gamer but an individual who enjoys technology, (call me a "Sci-Fi kid" if you will) the xb1 and kinect is catering to people of my age group or mindset.

So...do you think the xb1 would sell better than the ps4 @ $400 without kinect? You are still getting a less powerful system for the same price. The hype is just to high for the ps4 right now. I literally have people at work who know very little about video games telling me that the ps4 has all of the new games and the xb1 has DRM, only does 720p while the ps4 is 1080p which is clealy a false statement.

[airsick7]

I might be wrong, but couldn't most of the kinect functionality be achieved by voice commands on a headset ?(or maybe a mic built into the controller) I don't have an XB1 but most of the people I've talked to who love kinect 2.0 do so because of the voice commands. Not much chatter about the camera features.

[CYCLEGAMER]

Well there are features like knowing EXACTLY WHO is in the room, for automatic recognition and sign in, who is holding the main controller, there is also an amzing workout app. Kinect sports is coming in April, it cant see in the dark, it does 1080p skype calls and focuses/zooms in on who is talking, then pans out when others are in the room. Its a cool piece of tech.

[No_Limit]

Wait till Project Spark comes out. That game will demo the strength of the Kinect in every possible way from Motion capture, recording dialogs, and creating environments with gesture.

[djplonker]

I dont want the kinect and with my small room and scottish accent it is like it doesn't want me either XD

[LAWSON72]

Does Kinect sell on ebay pretty easily?

[OC_MurphysLaw]

nope...not really cause there is no real market for it. If everyone gets one... there's no need to buy an extra.

[djplonker]

Nope because there is no demand for it thats why the first kinect is only worth £10 now basically you will buy it and like it... or buy the alternative ;)

[solidworm]

Never gonna happen. If MS dont wanna get totally destroyed this gen the answer is simple yet totally sobering. Sell at a huge loss.

[OC_MurphysLaw]

Ok ....lets be honest. I know many of you think of Kinect as some add on you don't want. Whether your opinion changes on that is up to you but beyond games its the one thing that separates the Xbox 1 from the PS4 in a meaningful way.

If you take it out of the box and have a kinect-less One vs a PS4 for comparable price MS will still be facing the issue of the PS4 better on paper argument. If MS just bites the bullet on price but keeps Kinect in ...now you have more of a value proposition for the Xbox One for many beyond these walls. It might be lower spec wise but it has other features out of the box that the PS4 doesn't.

I personally think MS needs atleast $50 off the price in the US and pack in some game out of the box. Even if it was just Kinect Sports Rivals it would be that value proposition that would compete much better.

[Ashby_JC]

Bingo!!!

Work on lowering the price with the system as it is right now.

I can see it now...all the people saying remove Kinect...would the same people saying.....It's a weaker ps4.

Ms has to have something that sets it apart. And that is Kinect. Without it....

[pyramidshead]

Kinect will become relevant when it's integral to the XB1's gaming experiences, and not just for the UI. Seems a long ways off, especially with the lack of bespoke software.

[fattyuk]

I don't want Kinect, I don't want everything behind a Paywall.

[EasilyTheBest]

Microsoft could eventually sell the X1 with Kinect for the same price as a PS4.
That way with good advertising it could be marketed as the X1 with free Kinect.

[Ashby_JC]

The one comment that always trips me out when I read it is...."ms remove the Kinect and I might buy it"

Wtf??

So if they remove something they invested millions into. You MIGHT buy the system if they remove it.

I would think that a lower price point with the system as is makes more sense then removing a device that makes system unique.

[maniacmayhem]

If I was ever going to get a Xbox One I would want it with Kinect.

But I need to see more games and a price drop to consider getting the Xbox One personally.

[tigertron]

The fact of the matter is the console can still function properly without Kinect, so I say a Kinect-less bundle will be likely if the Xbox One continues to get outsold by the PS4.

Microsoft have been known to do 180s before. Just look at their whole DRM policy.

Besides, I would buy a Kinect-less Xbox One if it meant it reduced the price by £100.