Monday, July 7, 2014
Microsoft Officially Starts Selling Xbox One Without Kinect

Microsoft Officially Starts Selling Xbox One Without Kinect

Microsoft has announced that it’ll start selling Xbox One consoles without Kinect, a move which comes as somewhat a surprise to some, as Microsoft said that it would never sell the console with the motion peripheral. Analysts, however, are not surprised, because for months they’ve argued that Microsoft would eventually cut the price of the console — or sell it without Kinect if the software firm hoped to compete with Sony’s juggernaut, PlayStation 4. 

The removal of Kinect from the basic Xbox One package means that the console will now be sold in the US at $399, rather than the original $499, and in the UK at £349.

The company has also detailed changes to its Games with Gold programme for Xbox Live subscribers, which will begin for Xbox One in June with two titles – Max: The Curse of Brotherhood and Halo: Spartan Assault. The two Xbox 360 titles will be Dark Souls and Charlie Murder, and as a one-off bonus, a third title – Super Street Fighter 4: Arcade Edition.

It means that with a Gold subscription you will now presumably get four games free per month – two for Xbox 360 and two for Xbox One.

About Ernice Gilbert

Ernice Gilbert here. Founder and Editor-In-Chief of Gamesthirst. Thanks for stopping by, make yourself at home!
  • Dink

    After insisting the Kinect was an integral prat (excuse me, I mean ‘part’) of the system, Microsoft is going back on their word again. All they have done since launch, heck, even before launch, is rescind pretty much everything they said about the Xbone.
    Thankfully, as Microsoft have become so arrogant over the last few years, they are now in a downward spiral. Microsoft, we’re sick of you. We’re sick of you forcing crap on us. We’re sick of having to buy new operating systems for our computers every couple of years. We’re sick of you completely changing the look and interface of programs without giving us an option to keep the one we’re familiar with. We’re sick of you thinking you know what we want without even consulting us. Microsoft managers, or designers or whoever is implementing these stupid ideas just hasn’t got a clue. They think they can go ahead and introduce completely new interfaces and think the word is going to be happy about it. If they just have departments full of arse lickers too afraid to say what they really think, I predict Microsoft will be history in less than 6 years.
    The Xbox One is a failure in all measures. It’s a failure because they didn’t stick to the idea of developing just a games machine. It’s an inferior GAMES machine compared to the Play Station 4. It’s as simple as that.
    When you want a games machine, you buy the best one at the time. All of the kids know the Play Station 4 is the better machine. They are not going to ask their parents for an inferior one.
    If Microsoft want to be back in the market again, they need to make a GAMES machine that is simply that, and it needs to be at least twice as powerful as it’s competitor!