Industry’s Reaction To Kinectless X1 Is Mixed

After a full year of rumors, Microsoft finally let the cat out of the bag and announced a Kinectless version of their latest gaming console, Xbox One. The console will be available at $/€ 399 on June 9th; a standalone version of Kinect will be available this Fall, says Microsoft, for those who’ll want to add the device to their Kinectless Xbox One.

Customers - mostly hardcore gamers - have been clamoring for this very decision for months, and legendary insider CBOAT - now in demise - had promised that a Kinectless SKU would have been available by Summer. Microsoft likely decided to respond to their feedback and to the strong competition by Sony’ s PlayStation 4. However, the reaction from industry members has been mixed.

 

Epic‘s Vice President Mark Rein commented quite positively that “smarter decisions are happening thanks to Phil Spencer being in charge”.

Indeed, many gamers may consider buying an Xbox One now - such as Mike Bithell, the creator of Thomas Was Alone and Volume. However, he also highlighted the downside of the decision - it is likely that third party support for Kinect will dwindle, as with all optional console devices.

Popular critic Jim Sterling stated that “we all saw that coming”, adding that he’s glad this will show once and for all that Kinect wasn’t really necessary.

Thing is, Microsoft has been defending the decision to mandate Kinect along with every Xbox One unit for a very long time.

This is probably why some customers may feel as Blizzard‘s Cory Stockton (Lead Game Designer on World of Warcraft), who thinks that this announcement makes Microsoft look dumb.

It’s the curse of reversing such strong positions, and it’s not the first time for Microsoft, as last year they dropped the DRM requirements after the huge public outcry that followed. It’s unsurprising, then, that the reaction can be as diverse - on one hand, it can be said that the company has done the right steps after listening to feedback. On the other, though, their indecision is troubling and today, there may be a few disgruntled users who are wondering why they had to pay more for something (Kinect) they aren’t probably using a lot.

 

All in all, this does level the field a bit with PlayStation 4, so personally I think they did the right thing. More gamers will be open to the possibility of buying the console now, especially if more interesting games are announced; this year’s E3 looks to be nothing short of explosive. Stay tuned here to hear everything about it!