Microsoft has denied rumours that it intends to release an Xbox One bundle without Kinect, telling Kotaku it has “no plans” to do so. Yesterday, the website Inside Gaming Daily reported that Microsoft plans to release a Kinect-free Xbox One bundle next summer, citing “an anonymous source familiar with the matter”.
Inside Gaming Daily writes: “This contradicts Microsoft’s repeated implication that the Xbox One won’t function without a Kinect attached, but it’s sounding more and more like that’s a bit of PR smoke just to get the Kinect in people’s homes,”
But Microsoft says that’s not true.
“We have no plans to introduce an Xbox One without Kinect,” a spokesperson told me this afternoon. “We believe in Kinect and the value it brings to both games and entertainment, and believe $US499 is a great value for what consumers receive with their Xbox One.”
The Xbox One will be out this November.
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12 responses to “Microsoft Shoots Down Rumours Of Kinect-Free Xbox One Bundle”
Us: we don’t want kinnect
Microsoft: *puts fingers in ears* “YES YOU DO, NOT LISTENING, LALALALALALALALALALA”
They’ll get that Wii market if its the last thing they’ll do *shakes fist*
Your “us” might not include the 24 million people who’d bought the shitty Xbox 360 Kinect as of January 2012.
This is what I’ve been saying about the Xbone the whole time, once this thing gets out of the gaming forums dominated by bitter, entitled “core” gamers it will find an enormous market of people with homes and internet connections who aren’t freaked out about DRM and who will actually be impressed by the new Kinect instead of whinging about everything.
I want the new Kinect to be attached to my console. I think it has some cool applications and plenty of potential, I don’t want to see it intruding where it shouldn’t but that’s up to the developer as much as anything. If it gets used badly in core games I’m sure it will be noted by gamers who will do what they do best (complain), there’s no reason to think developers are going to start intentionally ruining their games in order to support it.
“Potential”. That’s all motion control has ever been – promise and potential never delivered on. And Kinect 2 hasn’t shown me anything to convince me that that’s going to change.
Well voice and movement are kind of proven forms of interaction, and the technology in the new Kinect looks significantly better than anything which has been released to a mass audience so I’m pretty optimistic that good developers will find good ways to use it.
What was that I said about core gamers being negative about everything?
Only about a billion people loved Wii Sports.
Good on them, this decision will really pay off in 3-5 years time when the next-gen consoles are released. Even now Kinect is quite the device on the PS eye, imagine the gap after 3-5 years of dev work and consumer use.
People need to realize that the Kinect is no longer an accessory but is part of the console, the only thing that stopped them from building it into the console was so your console placement didn’t affect the camera placement.
Agree 100%.
From the tech demo that has been shown so far it looks like useful tech, obviously you’re going to get some developers who use it badly but in the hands of a responsible developer who uses it as necessary I think it can offer good things to the right kind of gaming experience. Honestly I think the voice command function is probably the best part.
If they do release a Kinect free version just after launch it’s really going to be a kick in the guts for early adopters (like me), I don’t want to fork out extra for something which isn’t going to be properly supported. The tech looks good but once you fragment the market the usefulness of the Kinect declines. I’m happy to pay an extra $100 or whatever for something that’s going to be properly used for the next 6+ years, but as soon as Microsoft says “it’s good, but it’s not that important” then maybe I’d be willing to do what I’ve done this generation and be perfectly happy to be Kinect free.
Fun fact: I bought an Xbox Live Camera the day it came out and used it for all of 5 minutes. I only just remembered that it existed.
I’m glad it comes standard as hopefully it will encourage more developers to add features to their games as they will know everyone got it so its worth while.
Funny how so many confused rumors about the Xbox One buzzed about in the weeks before (and after) the reveal with no confirmation from MS to clear them up, but as soon as one surfaces stating a ‘no kinect bundle’
Microsoft: HELL NAWWW.
If they dropped the kinect crap I would have to consider buying one. Until then no chance. Let’s be honest with ourselves there was not one good reason to own original kinect it is just a gimmick.
maybe they should ship without processors or controllers, it’s designed to be part of the damn machine.
For me I think it’s better to just bundle the kinect with the console that way it’s there and so what you don’t have to fork out extra for better features! psEYE was dropped cause it’s crap and will never compete with kinect 2.0 I for one like the idea of walking in the house from a hard days work and putting my things down and saying “XBOX ON” – “XBOX PLAY MUSIC” then going about my usual time at home without having to run over to the TV and grabbing a few remotes to turn everything on and scrolling through crap to do what I want! That to me is mind blowing and I cant believe people don’t want that? And for an extra $50 why the hell not? It’s been made quite clear all the PS4 will do is play games watch movies and music as usual and have it’s slightly updated FB/Twitter/MySpace UI look to it! And again having to go grab all the remotes just to get it all up and running screw that! “XBOXWIN” \m/
For those who think I’ll still have to turn my TV and sound system on “NOPE” auto detects sources and turns themselves on I’m talking for those who will still have to do that!