It’s been a long time coming, but it’s finally time to sound those funeral bells for the Kinect. Fast Co Design are reporting that during interviews conducted with Alex Kipman, the accessory’s creator, and Matthew Lapsen, General Manager of Xbox Devices Marketing, Microsoft dropped the news that the Kinect is no longer in production.
For the casual gamer, this isn’t surprising news. For many, the Kinect was seen as an unwanted accessory that hiked up the price of those original Xbox One bundles. Once the Kinect-less bundles starting rolling out at a cheaper price, many buyers opted for that version. It was arguably then that signalled the beginning of the end of the accessory. As soon as you mark a product as unnecessary, demand for the product decreases.
For players, the legacy of the Xbox One Kinect is that of a oversized webcam. Far from being something to enhance your gaming experience, it’s only use came when you decided to try out Skype on consoles. For developers, however, it was a revolutionary tool that assists in the production of next generation UI prototypes and the like. The depth sensing technology, developed by PrimeSense, gave way for the likes of Faceshift, both of which were acquired by Apple. Apple are now using this technology in the upcoming iPhone X.
Even at Microsoft, the principles and technologies that laid the foundations for Kinect are being integrated into Hololens and other projects. The team responsible for the accessory also worked on Cortana and Windows Hello, the biometric facial ID system. The impact of that little motion sensing box of wonders will still be felt for a long time. What are your memories of the Kinect, and do they involve being out of breath in some thinly veiled attempt at exercise? No, just me? Sound off in the comments.
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