IDC suggests Microsoft will unbundle the Kinect from the Xbox One to improve sales

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

You missed the part of my post where I pointed out that its about more than gaming to MS. Its been mentioned before, but most people just ignore that point and focus on what exclusive games might come out.

Sony has indeed added more voice commands, which is great. Is the ps4 camera as integrated into the OS as Kinect is?

What I have trouble figuring out is why people are so sure that Kinect does nothing outside of play games and do a few voice commands. I mean I get it when it comes from people that don't own one, but then some that do own it feel the same way.

 

Your right, its not based on fans or non-fans interested in strategies based on their own taste. I do think its interesting that if someone tries to make a case for keeping kinect, its pretty much laughed off as some fan calling it 'blasphemy'. MS obviously had a reason for keeping kinect, yet few care what the reason was. Of course that can change and MS can always reevaluate.

Its pretty simple really.

Either MS believes Kinect offers a long term value and it is worth keeping even if that means taking more losses to have a price cut. Or they do not and they kill Kinect in order to drop the price without a loss or cut the price farther and take a loss. I see little reason for them to try some half plan where they introduce multiple skus if the point of dropping kinect in the first place is to cut prices and react to a lack of interest.

It really doesn't matter how people around here feel about Kinect.

 

How does that mean killing Kinect? It's that bi-polar view that is making it hard for some to see it can be considered a game plan without too much downfall. They are in no way killing something just because they introduce a cheaper bundle. For a camera that is worse technically, doesn't have many games and that's OS integration is average at best it's hardly selling bad on it's own.

 

Kinect already has the technical advantage and "commitment" from MS in everything PR related, what is everyone so scared of if a basic bundle is introduced as an entry level option? That's not really fear of developers, it's fear of your own product and that is never a good reason to force people to buy into something. 

[Skiver Veteran]

I have to admit I got bored of reading that article quite quickly, like someone has already pointed out.. competition from the Wii U!? I know its petty but having a picture of Kinect V1 actually irritated me too, if you're going to blame Kinect for "poor" sales then at least get a picture of the damn thing right!

 

This is obviously also forgetting that some retailers have dropped the price of XB1 by ?100 ($160 roughly converted) which in most cases equals the price of the PS4 if not actually beats it when you take into consideration that this is often bundled with a game like Titanfall. If that hasn't "improved" sales enough then dropping Kinect will do nothing. 

 

I like Kinect and I'm happy I have it, if there had of been two bundles I probably would have paid more to get it. Whilst MS's sales aren't close to Sony's I believe in comparison to the 360 it has still sold well. Once we start getting a more steady stream of decent games I think sales will pickup for both platforms.

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

I have to admit I got bored of reading that article quite quickly, like someone has already pointed out.. competition from the Wii U!? I know its petty but having a picture of Kinect V1 actually irritated me too, if you're going to blame Kinect for "poor" sales then at least get a picture of the damn thing right!

 

This is obviously also forgetting that some retailers have dropped the price of XB1 by ?100 ($160 roughly converted) which in most cases equals the price of the PS4 if not actually beats it when you take into consideration that this is often bundled with a game like Titanfall. If that hasn't "improved" sales enough then dropping Kinect will do nothing. 

 

I like Kinect and I'm happy I have it, if there had of been two bundles I probably would have paid more to get it. Whilst MS's sales aren't close to Sony's I believe in comparison to the 360 it has still sold well. Once we start getting a more steady stream of decent games I think sales will pickup for both platforms.

 

While the UK has shaved off a bit, giants like Amazon still have the core XB1 model ?30+ more than a PS4. Remember they're also battling a mindset that's been set that the console is "weaker" than the PS4 as well. They really need 1:1 parity with the PS4 at a minimum, going slightly under would be best. 

 

The UK is sadly for gamers also not indicative of all of Europe when it comes to cost cutting - We have a really vicious market here, I don't think any other country see's reductions like we do. The rest of Europe is also the harder battle, even last gen when the UK favoured the 360, other European countries remained pro-Sony which they typically do.

[BajiRav]

Selling a bundle without it doesn't mean they can't continue selling a bundle with it - Surely that is the real test of whether or not people want Kinect? What bundle the majority choose.

If they want price parity they're pretty much going to need that solo unit, the only other option is to eat the cost themselves and that isn't MS' style (selling at a considerable loss). Right now Sony have more room to play with in reaction to MS, if MS choose to eat the costs and go below the PS4, Sony can counter by eating some loss themselves and going back under the XB1 - The highest amount of loss per unit will always go to MS in this scenario with the Kinect being bundled.

Trailing the PS4s price for years is simply not a good business plan, especially not considering Europe (and the UK) seem to quite happily set their allegiance on whatever is cheaper/getting praised more online. The UK was dominantly 360 last generation and within months of these new consoles being released has quite clearly gone pro-PS4 for now.

1. Doesn't X1 have a better attach rate than PS4? If true, then MS has more wiggle room than Sony.

2. Sony doesn't have pockets of MS to get into a price war.

In either case, I think MS won't unbundle Kinect and won't sell at loss. They will probably sell at cost but really doubt if they will go for a $50-100 per unit loss.

I fully expect Sony to make boneheaded decisions now that they are on top sales wise, we already saw a glimpse in the DriveClub PS+ edition goof up.

Personally I am waiting for a decent price drop but I hope they get there without losing Kinect.

[Skiver Veteran]

While the UK has shaved off a bit, giants like Amazon still have the core XB1 model ?30+ more than a PS4. Remember they're also battling a mindset that's been set that the console is "weaker" than the PS4 as well. They really need 1:1 parity with the PS4 at a minimum, going slightly under would be best. 

 

The UK is sadly for gamers also not indicative of all of Europe when it comes to cost cutting - We have a really vicious market here, I don't think any other country see's reductions like we do. The rest of Europe is also the harder battle, even last gen when the UK favoured the 360, other European countries remained pro-Sony which they typically do.

Whilst I agree to an extent on the weaker stance, I bought the XB1 for the games not how well it performed and I think a lot of people will eventually end up with the same decision.

 

Killzone vs Halo

Gran Turismo Vs Forza etc etc

 

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

1. Doesn't X1 have a better attach rate than PS4? If true, then MS has more wiggle room than Sony.

2. Sony doesn't have pockets of MS to get into a price war.

In either case, I think MS won't unbundle Kinect and won't sell at loss. They will probably sell at cost but really doubt if they will go for a $50-100 per unit loss.

I fully expect Sony to make boneheaded decisions now that they are on top sales wise, we already saw a glimpse in the DriveClub PS+ edition goof up.

Personally I am waiting for a decent price drop but I hope they get there without losing Kinect.

 

You do not need to have the biggest pockets if you make decisions which allow you to have a low price point originally.

 

As for attachment rate

 

Meanwhile, the Xbox One software attach rate is 2.9 games per console. That?s a solid but not spectacular number for the console at this point in the life cycle and is approximately the same as the PS4 which has sold 20.5 million games at this point compared to the 7 million consoles sold.

 

[Hedon]

You do not need to have the biggest pockets if you make decisions which allow you to have a low price point originally.

 

As for attachment rate

Are you using your Kinect daily?

[BajiRav]

You do not need to have the biggest pockets if you make decisions which allow you to have a low price point originally.

 

As for attachment rate

Your sentence makes absolutely no sense. Sony's per unit cost doesn't decide how much loss Microsoft is willing to take.

 

Looks like I was wrong on the attachment rate.

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

Are you using your Kinect daily?

 

No cameras allowed in my house, I'm worried aliens are spying.

 

Your sentence makes absolutely no sense. Sony's per unit cost doesn't decide how much loss Microsoft is willing to take.

 

Looks like I was wrong on the attachment rate.

 

No it doesn't, what I meant is big pockets aren't everything. Sony have pole position on pricing right now and have managed that through a business decision not to bundle their camera. They're selling "beefier" hardware at a lower price and it's just simply to do with the camera.

[Hedon]

No cameras allowed in my house

Ah. Well Kinect is pretty awesome. It's used daily in our house...unlike our Xbox 360 Kinect.

[BajiRav]

No cameras allowed in my house, I'm worried aliens are spying.

 

 

No it doesn't, what I meant is big pockets aren't everything. Sony have pole position on pricing right now and have managed that through a business decision not to bundle their camera. They're selling "beefier" hardware at a lower price and it's just simply to do with the camera.

Doesn't Sony also have lower per unit margin than Microsoft at their respective launch price points?

 

p.s. I thought you had PS3 move. :p

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

Doesn't Sony also have lower per unit margin than Microsoft at their respective launch price points?

 

p.s. I thought you had PS3 move. :p

 

I would bet on that yeah, the RAM is most notably fairly expensive.

 

And yeah I do have cameras I was just giving a silly comment a silly response.

[Hedon]

I would bet on that yeah, the RAM is most notably fairly expensive.

 

And yeah I do have cameras I was just giving a silly comment a silly response.

Ok, I see. So you do or you don't use your Kinect?

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

Ok, I see. So you do or you don't use your Kinect?

 

It's currently taped to the side of my house to work as a security camera. It once accidentally logged a burglar into my XB1 through face recognition though.

[trooper11]

How does that mean killing Kinect? It's that bi-polar view that is making it hard for some to see it can be considered a game plan without too much downfall. They are in no way killing something just because they introduce a cheaper bundle. For a camera that is worse technically, doesn't have many games and that's OS integration is average at best it's hardly selling bad on it's own.

So you truly see no downside at all to MS unbundling Kinect?

Do you feel that the ps4 camera will get as much support from Sony as Kinect will get from MS as a bundled feature?

Maybe your right, maybe the best choice is to just offer both and MS can kind of transition to supporting Kinect more like Sony does. It would be interesting to see.

Kinect already has the technical advantage and "commitment" from MS in everything PR related, what is everyone so scared of if a basic bundle is introduced as an entry level option? That's not really fear of developers, it's fear of your own product and that is never a good reason to force people to buy into something.

Again, do you know what MS is thinking? I mean for some reason you are calling out other people that post as if they are MS reps responding to a question. MS has made no statements regarding this, so trying to paint it as them being afraid is just painting random forum posters that way.

The only thing MS has done has shown a strong commitment to keeping the bundle as is because they feel like its a compelling features for the platform. They have also shown that they are not interested in Kinect being seen as its own 'thing' or something only to be used for dedicated games. All of that can change tomorrow, but that is the case as of today.

Its not about being scared, but hey, if that is what you want to take away from points being made, so be it, your entitled to think that way. I'm kind of tired of debating the point anyway. Kinect could very well get unbunbled at E3 and then we can move on to the next thing.

[Showan]

We sideline viewers always like to think, we know whats going on (myself especially :D ).

Microsoft could have all kinds of Kinect Software (not just gaming) in the pipeline and ready to be baked into the OS.

Always know a companies LOOOOOONG term goal for a product first and foremost.

 

IMHO, it would be dumb to drop something so heavily integrated into the System.  Xbox One is Kinect and Kinect is Xbox One. 

 

I had PS Move controllers as well.  Got rid of them recently.  Kept the camera however.

I even used the things for a bit.  Even bought games like The Fight, KungFu Riders.  I even used them for Heavy Rain.  And of course Sports Champions.

 

I'd rather every unit have the same things in the box.  If there's going to be a camera. All units should have a camera.  If there isn't going to be a camera, NO units should of had a camera.

 

Only difference should be, is there is a game pack in or not.

 

All hardware should be the same from day 1 to no longer being manufactured.

[Torolol]

So, regarding kinect IDC have the last laugh for now.

http://www.polygon.com/2014/5/13/5713440/xbox-one-no-kinect-release-date-price-microsoft

[GotBored]

Kinect-less Xbox One announced!

 

https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1213329-microsoft-to-sell-xbox-one-without-kinect-for-%C2%A3349/

 

http://www.polygon.com/2014/5/13/5713440/xbox-one-no-kinect-release-date-price-microsoft

 

Guess IDC was right? :)

[Lord Method Man]

 IDC is making a statement and we're ridiculing them. 

 

Well, fat lot of good your ridicule did. Are you eating your crow grilled, or fried?

 

Not expecting an answer, but maybe people will eventually learn not to try and discredit sources just because they dare to report something contrary to what you want to be true.

[siah1214]

A broken clock is right twice a day.

Btw, why so bitter, method man?

[Lord Method Man]

Bitter? I'm ecstatic.

[trooper11]

Well, fat lot of good your ridicule did. Are you eating your crow grilled, or fried?

 

Not expecting an answer, but maybe people will eventually learn not to try and discredit sources just because they dare to report something contrary to what you want to be true.

Some people discredited it for legitimate reasons.

its easy to say what you just said since their claim turned out to be true. that is not always the case.

Still, MS got that price down, which is big.

[trooper11]

I just realized something. IDC still got it wrong. They thought it would not be until next year that MS did this. So MS made the move far earlier than predicted.

[spenser.d]

I just realized something. IDC still got it wrong. They thought it would not be until next year that MS did this. So MS made the move far earlier than predicted.

 

Yes, that's because, as everyone pointed out, they don't know what they're talking about.  They were regurgitating a common rumor for page views, not saying anything they actually had sources for.