Today, in a move many will describe colourfully but I will simply state as "returning to their senses", Microsoft reversed the stipulation of mandatory Kinect connection for the basic functioning of the Xbox One.
Yes, that's right, it is no longer necessary to have the Kinect 2 camera connected to the Xbox One in order for the console to work.
In my opinion, we now have a true "Console War" since Microsoft decided to do this. Although there are still some differences between the Xbox One and the PS4 for people to use to choose sides, for the most part the two consoles are almost two sides of the same coin. This will now become a battle of games more than anything else, as it should be.
This news doesn't mean that Microsoft will have a Kinectless SKU for $100 cheaper, so don't get your hopes up there. MS don't want a fragmented audience. All this means is that you can play your Xbox One without ever having the Kinect camera hooked up at all. Gone are the fears of PRISM and NSA spying.
The only thing I really have to say about this is that it took them long enough. Microsoft have had to learn the hard way that first impressions count for a lot, and now they are working hard to improve their image and it shows. There will always be arguments about specs and services and all that other hooplah, but today is a day to celebrate a good move that was made using that rarest of abilities known as common sense.
The skeptic in me still wants to see what Microsoft will try to pull in the future, but today isn't that day. For now I think we should all look at this as a win for gamers, because it's been a combination of our voices (that some would say are the minority), and the pre-order numbers, and the mainstream audience not buying into what the Xbox One was trying to sell that have forced Microsoft to perform continuous reversals on their policies. It's time to see what will happen next for both the Xbox One and the PS4 in this competition.
To you Microsoft, and to you Xbox One fans, I say congratulations. Today is a great day for you all.
Microsoft announced its financial results for Q3 of fiscal year 2026, including an update on its gaming Xbox business and more.
Not looking good. Hopefully Asha Sharma is able to turn Phil’s disaster around.
To me it's still quite remarkable how they can cash-in 5.3bn in revenue in a single quarter, since their hardware is basically dead.
The stock mark is what makes Microsoft remarkable, They have convinced every institutional and retail investor to just keep piling money into them. Like many big tech giants they are just a big growing pyramid scheme. As long as people keep dropping money into ETF's that cover the market Microsoft will always be liquid. At the same time it is completely stifling innovation and competition. People need to start being more discreet in how they invest their money as it's killing the system.
Riiiiight because people will just flock back to them for one or two games per year.
15+ years of bad performance is what they call irreparable in business. It is time for them to sell off the assets and get out of entertainment.
These declines are on the back of extra revenue received from releasing games like Forza horizon 5 on PlayStation. So I’m being sarcastic here when I said they should go back to exclusives. Killing off a revenue stream from Ps5 sales will only make things worse
The charity event will be streamed live from Gamescom in August.
Thanks to the slip-up of an artist working on the title, we now have more evidence that a new Injustice game is in the works.
a cheaper no-Kinect bundle is inevitable now, will be waiting for it, and it should be $350 because a tie with the PS4 price is just not enough to really make a big turnaround.
This blog reeks of sony fanboyism and bia....
Oh wait...I for one never had a problem with the Kinect being hooked in to work. I always looked at it like the Wii sensor bar. I also hope that MS doesn't sell a separate sku that doesn't have a Kinect. To me that is the one huge thing that separates it from the PS4.
MS has already absorbed the cost of the headset maybe they can suck up a tad more for the whole package. I won't complain about it being 500 because you are getting a lot but 450 would be a whole lot better.
Anyways I am still on the fence on both PS4 and Xbox One. I say we all go for the WiiU, it's cheaper than both systems and it has free online!
;)
they are smart in a way to include it because never in my wildest dreams do i ever think about getting a kinnect i see it as a gimmick and interface control nothing else especially one that makes it a whole 100$ more but they have been flipping around like a fish outta water for awhile now and its great for us but i still can't forget what they tried to actually do.... no doubt there will now be a kinnectless xbox one for sale
Meh I will be getting the Kinect version pre order was put on a few days after E3.
First impressions are extremely important, and Microsoft already pissed enough people off to the point where nobody wants to buy their console. Sony on the other hand did a great job at capitalizing on this grave mistake that Microsoft made with the DRM. This is damage control, it will be damage control until launch, and then its going to be a battle of the games. Either way what they are doing now is trying to get the Xboned as close as they can to PS3 status, Im sure they changed some minds but it did cost them their "vision" we will no longer know what Microsoft meant by "The future of gaming". Maybe having the kinect always on was something MS was planning on using for something. If they did lower the price to 350 on a kinectless bundle then they will be losing alot of money, and Im pretty sure people will be buying it without the kinect anyway so that will split the userbase from core to casual and devs will have to deal with that too. Personally I think the kinect is a waste of time.