The Xbox One will no longer require the Kinect to operate. This was a big piece of news when it broke, as it continued to show a trend of Microsoft backtracking on its initial statements and pushing in the direction that the vocal consumer desired. At this point, it feels like anything about the next-generation console could change on a dime, but cooperate VP Phil Harrison is sure of one thing: the Xbox One will always be bundled with Kinect.
Why is he so sure? For Microsoft, the two pieces of tech are inseparable.
“Xbox One is Kinect. They are not separate systems. An Xbox One has chips, it has memory, it has Blu-ray, it has Kinect, it has a controller. These are all part of the platform ecosystem,” Harrison said to CVG at this week’s Gamescom.
“What we have shown really well at Gamescom is the magic of games that use Kinect. We have shown the power of voice control,” he continued. “I'm probably going to piss off your readers unintentionally when I say this; I have an Xbox One at home, and being able to walk in and say ‘Xbox on,’ and for the system to recognize me, launch and load my profile, and put my choices of content on the front page is a very magical experience. It makes you think about your relationship with technology in a slightly different way. It's personal. It makes you think, I wish more devices would do this.”
It might be just another piece of the Xbox One puzzle, but is it one consumers want? We’ll have to wait to see if the Kinect can prove a worthwhile addition in the coming years.
