Microsoft revealed a fair amount of information last week, a good chuck of which was regarding the Xbox One and its Kinect peripheral. One of the most noteworthy announcements was the fact that the Kinect will no longer be bundled with the Xbox One.
Interestingly enough, as it turns out, according to Xbox designer Carl Ledbetter, an iteration of Xbox One console itself did included the Kinect as a built-in feature.
However, one of the key reasons as to why Microsoft ultimately decided against the idea was because it would have made the console look incredibly bulky, more so than what it already is.
“We actually built models of that,” Ledbetter explained in an interview with Develop. “We pushed ourselves, can we put it all in one? Is that going to work? And the technology just isn’t there yet. As soon as you have something much bigger than the Kinect sensor people don’t want to put it by the TV, it’s too big.”
Develop’s full interview with Carl Ledbetter can be read via the source link below. Now that the Kinect has been separated from the Xbox One, a standalone product will be available for purchase later on in autumn this year, but Microsoft has yet to reveal any pricing information or a specific release date for the peripheral. The company has also confirmed that will not refund early buyers of the Xbox One.
Microsoft’s corporate vice president of marketing and strategy Yusuf Mehdi explained that the decision to remove the Kinect from the Xbox One came about after a couple months of serious discussion. Microsoft officials then spoke to both publishers and developers alike over the past few weeks to update them of the change to the console. It’s also been suggest that the removal of the Kinect may improve the performance of the console itself.
The head of Xbox, Phil Spencer, also explained that removing the Kinect was due in part to giving consumers a choice of whether they won’t the console by itself or included with the peripheral.
The Kinect-less Xbox One will start shipping on Monday, June 9 for $399 – $100 less than its Kinect-included counterpart. The package will include everything that’s been in the box prior, just minus the Kinect.
[ Develop ]