It’s still way too early in this console generation to tell how things are going to turn out, but by all accounts both Microsoft and Sony are enjoying solid early sales of their new video game consoles. Sony’s PlayStation 4 took a quick lead with sales totaling 6 million units through the beginning of March, but Microsoft sold 3 million Xbox One consoles in 2013 and a recent report also suggests that anticipation of Titanfall’s upcoming release added at least another 1 million units to the company’s running total. On what might be something of a negative note for Xbox fans, however, the same source who reported that Xbox One sales have skyrocketed thanks to Titanfall also claims that Microsoft has no plans to offer a Kinect-less Xbox One bundle anytime soon.
According to industry watchers, one of the reasons Microsoft’s Xbox One hasn’t sold as briskly as Sony’s PlayStation 4 is the steeper price tag. The PS4 costs $399.99 while Microsoft’s Xbox One is sold with a bundled Kinect sensor for a total of $499.99.
While the Kinect indeed adds tremendous value to the Xbox One gaming experience, many people have called for Microsoft to offer gamers a cheaper Xbox One option that ditches Microsoft’s voice and motion controller. Microsoft may indeed offer a cheaper Xbox One at some point — it makes sense, since the Xbox 360 was available at multiple price points — however those hoping Microsoft might offer a Kinect-less Xbox One option sometime soon are in for a bit of bad news.
According to Pete “FamousMortimer” Dodd, the same insider who stated that Titanfall has increased Xbox One sales by 1 million units so far, Kinect is here to stay — at least for the time being.
“As for ‘get rid of the kinect’ I agree with Pachter that it won’t be this year. Well, it can possibly be this year, but later this year,” Dodd wrote in a recent post on the NeoGAF forum. “I think his reasoning is the same as mine… because the people I talk to say ‘We literally cannot unbundle it, we have contracts with parts suppliers that are yearly or multi-year.’ Mattrick really f**ked them with that device. If you do see Microsoft announce a kinect-less bundle early, like at e3, keep in mind that means they are eating A TON of money. And that has to be worrying for a division that certain people would like to see sold off…”
Dodd has a good track record when revealing unannounced plans, so it looks like the Kinect isn’t going anywhere right now. Of course, just about anyone who has used Microsoft’s Xbox One would probably agree that’s not such a bad thing.
