Xbox One could have more processing power without Kinect
By Chris Lacey
It was very recent that Microsoft dropped Kinect and Yusuf Medhi has confirmed the company is having internal discussions about how removing Kinect could give more processing power for games.
In a recent interview with Polygon, Microsoft’s corporate vice president for devices and studios Medhi said the decision to drop Kinect from its bundles came after months of serious discussion, and that both developers and publishers were made aware of this already.
Medhi also said, “We remain deeply committed to the Kinect as a core component of a next-generation console. We think that the bio-metric sign-in, voice controls of the menu, ability to say ‘record that’ and capture a moment of gameplay are all critical to the experience.”
“We have never wavered from that since the launch.”
He added, “The decision we announced is offering a choice to people that would allow them to buy an Xbox One and then ramp up to Kinect when they can afford to.”
This decision was driven in part by the adoption rate of current Xbox 360 owners, Medhi claimed. “We have over 80 million people who have yet to buy an Xbox One,” he said.
“Our view is that the Xbox One with Kinect is the premium experience.”
He was asked if any compensation would be given to the early adopters who paid for Kinect, Medhi replied, “Our view is that the Xbox One with Kinect is the premium experience. The things you are able to do are pretty magical. I think that (early adopters) are hopefully delighted as well with their usage.”
The last thing that was mentioned, Medhi confirmed that Microsoft is now re-appraising Xbox One’s hardware architecture without Kinect, adding, “We are in discussions with our game publishers about what we might do in this space and we will have more to talk about soon.”
It seems that the decision by Microsoft to lower the price of Xbox One without Kinect, could help them in the future. If it does give power to games, that should also please developers.
You can leave a comment below with your thoughts about Microsoft dropping Kinect.
[H/T: Polygon]