Xbox One to be sold without Kinect for $399
It's official: Microsoft has unbundled its Kinect camera to offer a cheaper hardware option for consumers
Speculation had been mounting for months that a move like this was in the cards at Microsoft, but now it's actually happening: head of Xbox Phil Spencer confirmed today that starting on June 9 (in all markets where Xbox One is sold) the hardware will be offered without the Kinect camera for $399. This, of course, gives it pricing parity with Sony's PlayStation 4, which so far has been outpacing the Xbox One in sales.
While some might interpret this move to mean that Kinect is no longer that important, Spencer was sure to stress the opposite in his blog post. "To be clear, as we introduce this new Xbox One console option, Kinect remains an important part of our vision," he said. "Many of you are using Kinect for Xbox One every day. In fact, more than 80 percent of you are actively using Kinect, with an average of 120 voice commands per month on each console. Some of the most popular voice commands include 'Xbox On,' 'Xbox Broadcast' and 'Xbox Record That.' We will continue to offer a premium Xbox One with Kinect bundle to deliver voice and gesture controls, biometric sign-in, instant personalization, instant scanning of QR codes, and enhanced features only available with Kinect in games such as Kinect Sports Rivals, Just Dance 2014, Project Spark and more.
"If you buy Xbox One for $399 and later decide you want to have all the experiences Kinect enables, we will also offer a standalone sensor for Xbox One later this fall. We'll share more details about the standalone Kinect for Xbox One in the coming months."
In addition to the hardware unbundling news, Spencer revealed new initiatives for Xbox Live Gold subscribers. Commemorating the one-year anniversary of Games with Gold, members will receive an additional free Xbox 360 game in June. The Games with Gold titles for Xbox 360 in June are Dark Souls, Charlie Murder and a bonus game of Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition, Spencer noted. Games with Gold is also coming to Xbox One in June, starting with Max: The Curse of Brotherhood and Halo: Spartan Assault. If you have a Gold membership, you will be enrolled to get the free games for both Xbox One and Xbox 360.
Additionally, Microsoft is offering a program called Deals with Gold for Xbox One in June, which will provide discounts to members for "significant savings" on AAA titles like Forza Motorsport 5, Ryse: Son of Rome, "and a few other surprises." The company also plans to launch a virtual VIP room exclusive to Xbox Live Gold members where players will gain access to free games, monthly deals, and other benefits.
And finally, Spencer announced something that should please a number of Xbox gamers: starting in June Gold membership will no longer be necessary to use apps like Machinima, Twitch, Upload, Netflix, Univision Deportes, GoPro, Redbull, HBO Go, the NFL app for Xbox One, MLB.tv, NBA Game Time, NHL Game Center and more.
Edited 3 times. Last edit by Thomas Dolby on 13th May 2014 4:33pm
I'd love to be proven wrong, and start seeing some must-play games coming out for the hardware. I went PS4 this generation.
That and THIS:
SEEMS to mean (to me at least) that any game that requires Kinect isn't being patched to NOT use the device. Meaning if you happen to be interested in one or more of those games but thought it would be Kinect-free to play, wellll... you need a Kinect ANYWAY.
Hee-ho? Yikes. So, they're getting that $100 (or less, as I bet the unbundled Kinect will be cheaper than that)... We'll see.
Edited 1 times. Last edit by Greg Wilcox on 13th May 2014 5:55pm
Not a real smart move on MS part, but then again, I do think it will ship some more units because of it, but it will make sure developers won't spend much time on integrating kinect anymore.. But then again, they always had to keep in mind that there are people not being able to use the kinect at all due to placement of the console or restriction of the room.. (I cannot use the kinect due to no 5meter extentioncords being available)
I was an early adopter of the original Kinect (& PS Move etc), and as such I couldn't understand why MS forced the newer Kinect on all early XO owners, but having used it almost everyday since release its clear that it's a vast improvement over the original kinect, and using the voice commands in the dash and in games or for capturing game footage is second to none..
They doing this entirely in the wrong order, they should really keep the kinect with the xbox one, whilst not force bundling will have helped sales at release, removing it won't make people choose an xbox one over a ps4 by this point, now there just damaging the support of the kinect which they already paid through the nose to support with their original force bundling strategy.
But when price is obviously an issue and the Kinect clearly lacked a type of game which sold everybody on its technology (compare Wii Sports), then it needs to go. Same goes for further gimping your own device by building a pay wall in front of apps made by third parties. Apps which add layers of justification the device is in desperate need of.
Now let's wait and see how aggressive Sony responds this time. Anybody in favor of a video entitled "this is how you put games up for sale on PSN"?
Edited 1 times. Last edit by Klaus Preisinger on 13th May 2014 7:45pm
Edited 1 times. Last edit by Petter Solberg on 13th May 2014 8:49pm
Edited 1 times. Last edit by Justin Shuard on 14th May 2014 8:55am
The only logical move for them would have been to take a financial hit and level the price gap WITH Kinect still in the box. Existing buyers could have been appeased with a free download game of either Dead Rising 3, TitanFall or Forza or even two of those titles. As it stands now all they have realistically achieved is to remove their USP and make it inevitable that they will have to go bargain basement to 329 by Christmas.
I'd love to be wrong on this but, I have both a PS4 and Xbox One and Kinect really is the only thing that makes owning the Xbox One worth while at the moment. It's ability to integrate skype, TV controller, sound controller and media controller is so far superior to the PS4's ability in this area that the PS4 really is only used for games. Take away the Kinect and I'm left with an under powered next gen console that has inferior versions of all the games I can get on my PS4.
I like this move, I'll probably buy an Xbox One now because of this move, I didn't want a Kinect....I do want its potential ;)
First, this $100 price drop is a very smart move on Microsoft's part and is long overdue. It will(or atleast should) help them start to close the sales gap between them and the PS4, atleast in the US. However, I think that it was a very bad move to remove the kinect from this new sku. They should have just taken the $100 hit and marked all current XBO's down to $399. It's not like they can't afford the hit. So while the newer cheaper sku is good for sales, the fact that they are now offering a kinect-less system is a pretty flawed move in my opinion, not just for splitting the user base but also because of it's functunality to the whole XBO experience. But atleast we have more good news.
Microsoft continued to listen to their fans/consumers and have finally(in a few weeks) removed the Xbox live gold requirement to view netflix, hula plus, youtube and pretty much all of those types of apps. It may be a bit overdue but they still really didn't have to do it(they've gone this long with the requirement) and they should be applauded for that move. l'm actually hoping that this is the start of bigger and better things to come as far as them taking fan feedback and constructive critism and actually making changes because of it. They also really need to start better utilizing their loyal rewards members(such as myself) for some of these kind of decisions in the future, especially if they plan on making a successor to XBO. Anyway, I can't wait to try out Dark Souls for free next month.
Edited 2 times. Last edit by Paul Jace on 14th May 2014 3:33am
Am I the only one who thinks a Kinect-less Xbox One should be a LOT cheaper than that? I remember reading somewhere (reliable) that Kinect 2.0 was half the dollars in the box. So why price for parity with PS4 when the machine itself doesn't have it?
$299 will make a difference to its rate of sale. $399 will not, in my opinion: it's all the same problems, but without the USP.
Now, that $100 drop is enough to generate sales right away (for a time at least), but let's say they drop the price again for the holidays or afterwards on that base unit AND pack in a game or two. Boom go the sales numbers (up some more) and maybe, if E3 this year and next show off some exclusives worth buying day one (that don't slyly force users to go back and buy a Kinect to get the most out of them), maybe we'll see actual Xbox One sales numbers not needing the "shipped versus sold" booster seat console and game numbers usually get in the press from those who post stories straight from a press release...
Kinect shouldn't have been included in the first place. There are many customers who don't want this feature. I'm glad they're releasing a SKU without Kinect, but it's too little too late and I'll see where they are in a couple of years. Too many missteps for me, and I bought the Xbox360 and the original Xbox, but we've gotta draw a line somewhere. I have a feeling that a LOT of other consumers are going to do the same and have done the same. I can see how developers are nervous about the camera being unbundled too, but many don't want to play those types of games anyway.
As a huge 360 fan, I'm just not sure what it would take to get me to buy a Xbox One at this point. It's got to be one or (preferably) more of the following:
- A further, aggressive, loss-inducing price cut, which Sony can't match due to a weaker overall financial position.
- A slew of awesome exclusives.
- Some kind of updated version of the console hardware which addresses some of the main hardware problems causing the sub par performance (e.g. ESRAM changes).
Unfortunately I see all of these options as highly unlikely, or not possible to deliver, in any kind of reasonable time frame at this point.
Edited 2 times. Last edit by Nick McCrea on 14th May 2014 10:06am
Edited 1 times. Last edit by Adam Campbell on 14th May 2014 10:12am
I think in this case it was a toss up of the two, personally I'd have been happier with a reduced price. Meh.
When people talk about kinect its mainly the voice stuff, a cheap mic array could of kept all that functionality and still been sold at $399
And I really was vocal about all this here in the forums. There were people here trying to convince others an themselves that this was something that can be justified.
I always viewed Microsofts methods as uneccesary. The only reason, to include many of these features was to attach a ball and chain to there products. Who in their right mind would be fine with that?
And alot of the articles here, build on nothing more than the hype Machine these companies create. And any rational or practical person would understand that alot of the features microsoft was implementing or imposing on its Xbox user base were UNECESSARY and or UNWANTED.
Lets see how it goes now for VR and if any of my comments regarding it are so unrealistic.
But anyway, I guess Ill wait for a price drop to get my hands on it. Good thing about this move is that Im now ok with purchasing an XB1 at some point.
There are very few games available for the Kinect camera, and the ones that were released seem to have sold poorly. Microsoft themselves seem to be admitting in the quotes above that most people just use it for voice commands. So without games, what's the point of all that expensive 3D camera hardware? Biometric login and scanning QR codes? Waving your arms around to navigate the console's UI, when you could do it faster and more accurately using the controller and voice commands? Hardly killer features.