Despite the quick death of the Kinect in this console’s life cycle, Microsoft has recently stated that a large number of people who do own the Kinect still use it regularly. Mike Nichols, who is the Chief Marketing Officer for Xbox, spoke about the current use of the Kinect:
While the Kinect seems to be all but dead when it comes to gaming features, according to Nichols, many still use it to interact and move around their Xbox One dashboard. However, what will this look like when Xbox rolls out the new interface update this Fall? Nichols commented on that as well, and talked about the difficulties of designing and operating system for people who may or may not own a Kinect:
Certain features, like gesture controls, have been completely removed from the new interface. Nichols claimed that hardly anyone used the feature, so there’s no real reason to keep designing as though they do.
It will be interesting to see how the Xbox team integrates the Kinect moving forward. They’re in a difficult situation right now, and are still trying to please both those who don’t own the Kinect and those who invested money in the once thought to be game-changing device. While the gaming functionality of the accessory is all but dead, interface functionalities will still be somewhat present, so at least the huge thing sitting under your TV will be getting some use rather than none.
