Hours after confirming Kinect no longer has to be connected for the Xbox One to function, Team Xbox rolls it back a little. PR head Albert Penello explains that Kinect is still an integral part of the package, and that they do not want to split up the developer base. In a roundabout way, Penello confirms that they still intend to ship out all Xbox Ones with Kinect in it.
Kinect became a very sticky talking point among fans twice over. Once because of all the unexpectedly unprecedented ways the device can collect data, particularly in such a way that you would not even be conscious that it was capable of doing so. Secondly, the device has seen criticism in the fallout of the NSA whistleblower scandal, with Microsoft one of several tech companies secretly providing user data to the PRISM program, to satisfy US laws.
Previously, Team Xbox pushed the idea that the Kinect can be paused, and that you would have control of what data it can collect and how it uses it via the dashboard. Penello acknowledges via NeoGAF that consumers were uneasy with the new Kinect in general. He insists there will be no catch 22 for making this decision.
However, Penello and everyone in Team Xbox before him has repeated the message that you will want to use Kinect. It is necessary for several functions of the Xbox One, and will also be baked in by several game developers (at those developers' discretion).
I think the back and forth will either simmer down or intensify once consumers finally get Xbox One and Kinect in their homes and finally experience for themselves what the device is capable of. Penello actually does have a point. To compare with a competitor, shipping a Wii U without a Gamepad, after a signigicant number of available and upcoming titles use it, is now unthinkable. Removing Kinect completely, to perhaps drive prices down or interest people who don't want Kinect, may simply not be practical. In the meantime, Team Xbox continues to tread a fine line with each public communication.
Source: OXM
