via Polygon, news that Microsoft is unbundling the Kinect2 from the XBoxOne, and the projection that the device is dead in the marketplace. I surmise that the device died when MS announced it would be a mandatory, always on, always online device. It has been rumored to have the capacity to track our bloodflow and so it felt engineered for domestic surveillance. Almost immediately MS began to soften its stance in response to outcry by potential consumers:
Kinect is dead
Microsoft has finally removed the Kinect as a mandatory bundle and dropped the price of the hardware, which has already had a positive impact on the hardware’s sales. At Gamescom Microsoft announced three new bundles, complete with games. And of course not a single one comes with the Kinect.It’s time to admit that the peripheral is dead. PR will hem and haw about how it’s still an important part of Xbox’s strategy, and a few games that were already in production will be released in the next year or so, but that’s it. There’s no value proposition for picking it up on its own, and there’s no reason to develop for it when the potential audience will likely stay static.The Kinect hardware has been on the way out for some time, but this is the death knell.
original Microsoft’s Xbox One message: Kinect is dead, long live exclusives.