Xbox One goes Kinect-less

Microsoft is ditching the Kinect from the Xbox One as of June 9th.

The company had previously been adamant it would not drop the motion sensing peripheral, but has now cut the Kinect as a requirement just six months after the console’s November launch.

An Xbox One without Kinect will cost £350, £50 less than it is currently. This will also put it on par with the PS4’s pricepoint.

Kinect had proved a controversial requirement for the Xbox One, sparking privacy concerns in some quarters over the data the peripheral collects about user behaviour. The inclusion of Kinect also played a part in raising the price of the Xbox One significantly above the PS4.

And following the latest sales data, which suggests Sony has sold more than seven million PS4s compared to the five million Xbox Ones shipped by Microsoft, the computing firm has now made the decision to sell a Kinect-less version of its new console.

The decision to ditch Kinect however could have consequences for its implementation in games, and may mean developers will not make user of its features in future titles.