Remember the Kinect, Microsoft’s motion sensing camera that was a huge success on the Xbox 360? The company has announced that it will stop manufacturing the device. Whatever units remain in stores currently will be the last available to purchase.
Kinect creator Alex Kipman and Xbox devices marketing GM Matthew Lapsen confirmed that Kinect was going away while speaking to Fast Company. It will still be supported on Xbox consoles so you shouldn’t worry about the Xbox One suddenly failing to register voice commands.
The Kinect has had a rather tumultuous history that started with Microsoft announcing it as part of the initial Xbox One launch package, which resulted in the latter costing $500. The fact that Kinect was meant to be always on also didn’t help and while it later became optional, the support lavished on the camera started to dwindle.
Look no further than the Xbox One S which lacked a dedicated Kinect port (though it still supports one via an adapter). The same applies to the upcoming Xbox One X. What are your thoughts on Microsoft finally killing off the Kinect? Let us know in the comments below.
