No more Kinect adapters

[Lionel Nolcini]

Just read a story in MSN News that Microsoft have discontinued making the Kinect adapter.

I have just bought an Xbox One X and was lucky as I had an adapter from when I used a Kinect as a web cam.

I would NOT have bought the X if I couldn't have used the Kinect on it.

I am saddened by this decision as it again shows Microsoft's ability to kick loyal customers in the teeth, why not let someone else build them and announce that at the same time, rather than just exit the market and be accused of being a callous uncaring company.

I am still all in with MS products, 950XL, SP4 Xbox One X, but I can see how so many people have been encouraged to move on from MS products and services.

Hi i have a360 and xbox1 kenect units.just brill.use both.shame its ended.

 

[AceOfClubs]

I think this is already the case.

 

[Guest_aotf]

Damage control? Pls stop categorizing people. I don't freaking care. [blah blah]..

It's funny because actions speaks louder than words. You may day you don't care but all your posts shows that you are part of that category. I've hardly ever saw you criticise MS and even in topics like this one you actually are trying to defend them and lash out at us the people...

Have you tried it? then funny you believed it...
Are you the one who also believed in WinPhone's future and now holding a grudge and try to spread your grudge every chance you have? Funny you, no? HOW MANY of you bought that future? Care to share some statistics?
ps: CEO's changed == direction changed.

Yes I bought it. I have one right here. And yes, I believed them at E3. Yes, looking back it was funny how they mislead me and so many others into believing their bs.

But you know what? **** that. I'm tired of being mislead by these companies. I'm tired of their false advertisement of their lies about "kinect still being important" just months before killing production.
You may not like it but we consumers have the right to opinions and to speak out when these companies/CEOs or whoever mislead and lie to us. Don't you come here trying to stop us from hitting back at your beloved MS after they mislead us...

 

[defgufman]

In the end it isn't all that important. New products come and go and some stick. The CB radio was pretty neat and got replaced. Many companies quit making and supporting them...it's how life works. Hell easy-bake ovens took out the hot cooking element and destroyed that toy too. Sadly the current trend toward Narcissism creates an atmosphere of over the top thinking and over personalized reactions to innocuous events.
Perhaps Microsoft believed the Kinect could have been the perfect tool to bring gaming and traditional entertainment together. No matter what a company thinks they can't guarantee people will agree, and once they determine the product is not generating a profit they have to move on lest they go out of business. It isn't personal, it is just how stuff works.

 

[Guest_aotf]

In the end it isn't all that important. New products come and go and some stick. The CB radio was pretty neat and got replaced. Many companies quit making and supporting them...it's how life works. Hell easy-bake ovens took out the hot cooking element and destroyed that toy too. Sadly the current trend toward Narcissism creates an atmosphere of over the top thinking and over personalized reactions to innocuous events.
Perhaps Microsoft believed the Kinect could have been the perfect tool to bring gaming and traditional entertainment together. No matter what a company thinks they can't guarantee people will agree, and once they determine the product is not generating a profit they have to move on lest they go out of business. It isn't personal, it is just how stuff works.

At least you'll admit that MS have faults here. They hyped the product like crazy, they forced it on their fanbase early on and hardly supported it with games.
To make things worse they just kept saying Kinect is important and is not going anywhere. They just kept misleading people to buy it even though they knew it was dying and they weren't really supporting it.

Say what you want about PSVR but at least Sony is supporting it with games.
Here I think people are upset about 1) false hype and misleading presentations with fake capabilites that sold false dreams, 2) lack of support by MS themselves to their own product pthat they previously hyped and forced on their fanbase, 3) misleading consumers by keep saying "Kinect is vital for XB" and that all devices will be supported on scorpio...

I understand that some products and tech dies but for me the way MS handled the entire situation was horrible. It just makes people think twice the next time MS hype up a new product or service...

 

[defgufman]

At least you'll admit that MS have faults here. They hyped the product like crazy, they forced it on their fanbase early on and hardly supported it with games.
To make things worse they just kept saying Kinect is important and is not going anywhere. They just kept misleading people to buy it even though they knew it was dying and they weren't really supporting it.

Say what you want about PSVR but at least Sony is supporting it with games.
Here I think people are upset about 1) false hype and misleading presentations with fake capabilites that sold false dreams, 2) lack of support by MS themselves to their own product pthat they previously hyped and forced on their fanbase, 3) misleading consumers by keep saying "Kinect is vital for XB" and that all devices will be supported on scorpio...

I understand that some products and tech dies but for me the way MS handled the entire situation was horrible. It just makes people think twice the next time MS hype up a new product or service...

Yes they did handle it poorly. I personally like Kinect and wish it did better. I also had many Windows phones and miss them too. I keep jumping into Microsoft products only watch them disappear. Windows RT, Groove, PhotoDraw, Microsoft TV and the devices attached to that service, MSN, FrontPage and the myriad of web tools that followed, Active Desktop, Zune, and so much more. I don't feel all that confident that XBox will continue after the One ceases. Microsoft sadly just can't seem to handle consumer markets like they do enterprise ones.

 

[TyStycc003]

It is disappointing to know they discontinuing both Kinect and Groove Music. They give up too easy. Stand your ground.

 

[DCTonkaTruck]

I try to read the stuff about how Microsoft's pivot from technology to technology is a good thing... It gels with a lot of stuff you read about these days about "failing fast".

Here is my issue, Kinect for Xbox and Kinect for Windows were devices that were marquee initiatives. They were supposed to be fundamental components of the next generation of interfaces. When Microsoft walked away from them as a product, there was no discussion of what lessons they've learned or how they are adapting their vision to market pressure.

Band, Zune, Xbox as an Entertainment hub, Groove, Windows Phone... Technology works best when it is part of a broad ecosystem. It's hard to look at their track record and not see Cortana, Microsoft Movies and TV, and others as under threat.

I hope the WINDOWSCENTRAL guys dig deep out at CES and give us a summary of devices and services that use Cortana... Microsoft needs to do a better job of competing with Alexa and Google... Siri, in my mind, is an also-ran.

Sorry, that was a side rant. I guess my point is that their strategy of going in a direction in a big way and then pivoting quickly with limited executive perspective throws people off and makes them suspicious... And not just developers. Consumers see these devices adopted by their friends... They barely work as promised because the ecosystem is nascent and then they're abandoned. It makes the people who wanted to wait think twice about whether something will improve their lives or whether it will be a frustrating mess.

 

[Revvin]

Its ridiculous that they stopped production so soon after launching the XBOX One X when so many users like me would be upgrading from the original XBOX One which came bundled with the Kinect. Its still a viable device for gaming and control of devices with Cortana and I use the Kinect on the XBOX 360 to do video calls with the grandkids who lived a few hundred miles away and it really helped us stay in contact between visits. Once I got my XBOX One X my original XBOX wen to my grandson with a new Kinect and I looked for an adaptor for mine but they were never in stock. Luckily I got a second hand one through Amazon the day the news boke about discontinuing manufacturing of the adaptor.

 

[Enlil242]

Agreed... This was a **** poor decision. Actually, ever since Cortana the Kinect has been unusable in my opinion. I wish I could get my $100 back. I think I will be bringing my PS4 down to my TV room and put the Xbox up in the kids room as I find it no longer serves as a media hub.

 

[Guest_aotf]

The focus now is "Games as a service", microtransactions + lootboxes, Power of "true 4K"/"6>4", depending on 3rd party studios, ways of playing old games or that $75 controller with new "fancy design" for games that don't have local multiplayer...

Closing studios, cancelling games, killing products...

All those who believe the kinect hype, who believed the project Milo, believed this was the future of gaming and of the living room.
All those who danced in the streets singing and shouting "I am the controller", all those who bought the kinect because that was the only way to get a XB1 console, all those who waited desperately for the next kinect game that MS invested in after sports rivals in 2014...

To all those people. You have been misled. Sorry but MS is telling you that it's time to move on.
Go buy a scorpio, go rent old games, or wait for 3rd party games and spend money on new controllers even if you can moslty play only with one controller at a time. And oh. Don't forget to gamble away your money in order to win multiplayer games...

These are MS priorities now...

 

[Ejay Lozano]

I missed the hand gestures that it used to have when i first came out. Now that it is being killed off, it just made the system less capable now. With sony and Nintendo not killing off one other their features like this, it just shows they didn't put much effort into the feature to keep it going.

 

[DanThrax69]

I really enjoy the Kinect on both 360 and One , I had no idea I would not be able to use my Kinect when I bought my new XB1X. MS should at least build enough units to supply us life long XB gamers . I have a massive collection all in working condition since the original XB that I bought in 1992. Very disappointed to say the least. These guys selling adapters on eBay for $300+ is ridiculous, come on guys , take pre-orders and make another batch . Advertised as a unit that all equipment would was very misleading when pumping up the new XB1X . Sony is about to get a bunch of power gamers joining their ranks if MS doesn’t make this right. Lets not let this die people , use every available means of contact to get this issue resolved, write MS , use tech support, call XB live , many ways to get heard , keep it going

 

[Mihai Florin Pop]

Microsoft kills windows phones, kills Kinect … is killing everything that they are making different from the others. If they are going on this direction maybe they will stop making windows OS and we will be more happy using Google's product.

 

[EspHack]

I do not understand Microsoft's reasoning for this, really how much could it actually cost them to build the adapter. I looked at one and really it isn't rocket science, I'm sure it won't be long before a third party company starts making one. If you look at what the adapter really is you could build your own.

to add insult to injury, consider the price, 40$ for what is essentially a 12v usb power injector, you could get that and a usb type b for around 20$ or less and do it yourself

now the worst part, its aimed at gaming users, which apparently are fine getting ripped off for every piece of plastic with an X on it, it makes sense, incredibly evil sense: "its for kids, they will coerce their parents into buying, so lets make the most profit" I see people buying used adapters for over 200-300$ on ebay, probably desperate xbox X buyers, the brand damage should outweigh whatever economic sense this move made back then

 

[Stan77]

Micro$oft must hate their own products. Except for Azure and Office 365, of course.

 

[Roman DeSilva]

Say what you want about Ballmer, he may not have always known what a winning combo looked like. But the man at least knew to step in the ring and put your fists up. How hard could it have been to simply say to the hardware department. Make a cheaper Kinect. Take the high-end Microsoft Lifecam, put a IR blaster in it, make it so it has a USB pass-through so it keeps the USB port on the Xbox One S and X available. and sell it along with the xbox one at a small loss. That way, the work being put into adding Cortana to the Xbox One isn't moot. It could've been pitched as a Alexa competitor. Sold as a PC accessory for systems without windows hello. But this is Satya Nadella. He retreats to where he thinks Microsoft does best: CORPORATE. But then again, this is a man that said in his 1'st keynote for windows, "Windows phones are for fans and enthusiast". That he wants us to "LOVE Microsoft". So kicking fans in the teeth is apparently his forte'.

 

[Spinus80]

its very disappointing! even without games there was easy Cortana and Skype!!

 

[Chuckwalsh]

I'm ok with them getting rid of kinect. It always seemed like a gimmick to me.

 

[Smokiechick]

I use my Kinect every day. It's how my kids sign in: they sit down, the Xbox says Hi to them, and they can't buy anything!
Glad we didn't upgrade.