Microsoft recently announced that it would releasing an Xbox One without Kinect on June 9th that would retail for $399, thus putting it firmly in contention with the Sony PlayStation 4. It raised an interesting point though – what about consumers who bought the console at launch for $499 and were now stuck with Kinect?
Will Microsoft offer some interesting deal to them like Nintendo’s Ambassador Program when the 3DS dropped in price? Not at all, according to a spokesperson who spoke to Eurogamer.
“No. As with many first generation products, the offerings can be expected to change and evolve over time. Kinect remains an integral part of our vision. Xbox One is better with Kinect, making games, TV and entertainment come alive with premium experiences.”
On one hand, it’s understandable – how many times has Apple launched a new iPad/iPhone with a single new feature and asked you to plunk down several hundreds of dollars for it? We’ll see how this pans out sales-wise for Microsoft in the coming months.
