Spencer: Dropping Kinect is not the No.1 Xbox One request

Microsoft has insisted that the dropping of Kinect is not the most requested Xbox One amendment.

We’re always trying to match what consumers are asking for,” Xbox boss Phil Spencer told Edge. I always want to make sure that we’re in tune with what current or potential customers are asking for from us.

Right now, [dropping Kinect is] not the number one request from people. Usually it’s, ‘Where are the great games?’ There are a number of games on the ID@Xbox programme that use Kinect, and you’ll see more games in the fall.”

In the same interview former Microsoft development boss Peter Molyneux, who oversaw the development of Kinect Sports, describes the peripheral as unnecessary” and predicts that Microsoft will indeed ditch it in the future.

I actually wish Kinect wasn’t a requirement,” he said. It feels like an unnecessary add-on to me. Maybe it’s because we’re in England, and it doesn’t really use the TV stuff, but it feels more and more like a joke.

My son and I sit there saying random things at it, and it doesn’t work. They could cost-reduce it [by removing Kinect]. I’m sure they’re going to release an Xbox One without Kinect. It would be unthinkable that they wouldn’t.”

Microsoft has had to repeatedly deny rumours that it is preparing a lower-price Xbox One SKU that doesn’t bundle in the camera.

Not only does the core games audience remain unconvinced – and even arguably openly hostile – toward the device, but common folklore will have you believe that Sony dropped the PlayStation Camera from its PS4 launch bundle to allow it to undercut Microsoft’s price.

And you can add to that the fact that the latest generation of Kinect games such as Fighter Within and, more recently, Kinect Sports Rivals, continue to irk critics.