Microsoft has announced a new retail version of the Xbox One console, which comes without the previously “integral experience” of the Kinect peripheral.
From 9 June 2014 in all markets where Xbox One is currently available will be the new retail version costing USD399 (±R4,100), down from its launch price of USD499.
This brings the Xbox One console price in line with its main competitor, the PS4, which also retails for USD399 without its equivalent PS Eye camera.
The Xbox One bundled with Kinect will remain available, and a standalone Kinect sensor will also become available in due course.
Microsoft once justified the inclusion of the Kinect camera as an integral part of the Xbox One experience, and staunchly resisted criticism around the inflated price, usefulness, and desirability of the peripheral.
Just back in February, Microsoft said that the Kinect was integral to the Xbox One experience, and that a Kinect-less Xbox One was not on the cards at all.
Phil Spencer, the new head of Xbox, explained the change of tack:
Since the beginning, we have focused on delivering great games and entertainment experiences for you. Your feedback matters to us and it shapes the products and services we build. Your feedback showed up in the Xbox One console we launched back in November and in the monthly updates we’ve delivered since.
Today, we’re excited to share more ways your feedback is impacting the products we build.
We’ve heard that you want more choices from Xbox One. You want a wide variety of options in your games and entertainment experiences and you also want options in your hardware selection.
To be clear, as we introduce this new Xbox One console option, Kinect remains an important part of our vision. 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.”
This probably means we will be receiving the Kinect-less Xbox One when it finally launches in South Africa in September 2014. No local price points have been confirmed.
Does this news entice you toward an Xbox One purchase, or do you think Kinect really is integral to the Xbox experience? Let us know in the comments.
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i’m willing to admit the xbone not a complete joke anymore. Microsoft can still take their gold account and shove it for all I care. If something like lan (well, used to) and certain websites are free on every other platform I own there is no conceivable reason that I am going to pay an additional monthly subscription service to microsoft to access them on an xbox.