With sales of the Xbox One picking up (finally!) word is that Microsoft will be looking to start selling the Xbox One Kinect 2.0 sensor as a standalone accessory for the console later on this year. According to Windows Phone Central MS will sell the console’s camera and voice recognition system on the side from October the 6th.
Back in May, Microsoft made a bold decision to drop the Kinect 2.0 camera from its standard Xbox One bundle, which in turn allowed the console to drop considerably in price. Additionally, some of the naysayers about the Kinects’s usefulness and security issues could be silenced by simply not purchasing the Cam.
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However, this has left customers who want to use the Kinect 2.0 in a difficulty place, as up until now the XB1’s camera has not been sold as a separate unit.
Windows Phone Central, claims to have learned that the peripheral will be available first in North America, priced at $149 (or £90) and then, we assume, other countries will follow.
When the Xbox One dropped the Kinect as a mandatory purchase, the consoles price dropped considerably from £425/$499 to a more respectable RRP of £349/$399. Since the price drop, sales in the US over June doubled for the console.
However, this was a major blow to games developers who were working on Kinect specific games, as now, they have a limited scope of Xbox One owners to create for, although Microsoft did state that they remain committed to the peripheral.
In July Microsoft released a Windows PC version of the Kinect sensor which retails for £159/$199, (Kinect for Windows Price and Release Date Revealed) so the Xbox One separate unit will be considerably cheaper than its PC counterpart.
Source: Windows Phone Central