Kinect No Longer Required

Since long before the Xbox One was even released, many pundits always asserted that at some point Microsoft would sell a version of the console without the Kinect.  Microsoft always denied this, stating that this went against their strategic vision for the console.  Well, the pundits have proved to be correct as Microsoft has just announced that they will start selling an Xbox One version without the Kinect.

Whatever you thought of the Kinect, this seemed like one of the only aspects of the new console that Microsoft had a firm vision of what it wanted for the future and was sticking to it.  The Kinect that went with the Xbox 360 was never more than a minor sideshow because most people didn’t have one.  Aside from the small smattering of family friendly games centered on the Kinect, it never got any other legitimate use.  Sure, plenty of games had token Kinect involvement but this was only at Microsoft’s pushing.

The idea with this generation was that if every Xbox One was connected to a Kinect, that would provide more of an incentive for developers to find cool uses for it beyond the token voice commands used in most core games.  No one really knew what these cool uses were, but from a technology standpoint the Kinect 2.0 is pretty impressive and surely someone would come up with a legitimately cool use for it.

Well, this announcement definitely signals the troubles Microsoft is having.  As far as the Kinect goes, its future is now doomed to the same fate as the original Kinect (which isn’t necessarily a bad future, just a very limited future).

More importantly, the move signals Microsoft’s desperation not to be left behind.  The Xbox 360 proved to be Microsoft’s breakthrough because it came out first, was priced better, and had great exclusive content.  This round, the consoles came out at the same time, the Xbox One is the more expensive console, and the only great exclusive content over the past few years has been made by Naughty Dog (whose games are only on PlayStation).

To make matters even worse, the move only further illustrates how much better of a deal the PS4 is.  Head to head, the PlayStation 4 is more powerful and more capable.  From a purely horsepower perspective, there is no arguing that a $399 PS4 is a better deal than a $399 Xbox One.

This move reeks of short-sightedness.  Sure they will probably pick up some more sales in the short term from uneducated parents picking up something they think their kid will like.  In the long term, it devalues the console by trivializing the Kinect and it further highlights the performance disparity against its only rival.