@arkephonic said:
I always see people say the reason is so every Xbox One owner will have a Kinect and that will encourage developers to incorporate it into their games. However, I have yet to see it used in any meaningful way that screams, "you need this thing". So far, it looks to me like it could have been entirely optional and even then, it'd barely even be used because it's getting no support. I was pretty shocked how at E3, they didn't show any games using Kinect in a meaningful way and they haven't really shown anything since other than Kinect Sports. They're doing a bad job of justifying the mandatory inclusion of this peripheral which is responsible for the $100 price difference.
The gen is just beginning. There will be some very good games for it over its lifetime.
The perfect validation for MS is the fact that Sony is selling a lot more PS4EyesToys than expected, so using the "nobody wants the technology" argument is based on people living in the SW world and not the real one. http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/03/19/sony-underestimated-demand-for-ps4-camera
The link above shows that the market demand for this technology is good and will potentially be great IF solid games are created for it . Word has it that Sony has sold about 900k PS4Cameras. MS has sold ~4.5M Kinects. And, as you referenced above, developers will be more willing to create games if the market potential is higher. The adoption rate for the PS4Camera is about 15% of PS4 owners. If the PS4 sells 100M over its entire lifetime, only about 15M owners will have the camera. I predict that 8M will have the Kinect by the end of the year and 15M will have one by holiday next year. Which system would you create games for it you were a developer?
Companies have to exploit their competitive advantage whenever they can. The Kinect is a technology that Sony wont be able to duplicate (or beat) this gen, so it only makes sense that Microsoft exploits that. If they had simply added more RAM and lowered the price, as some had suggested, they would be on even ground with Sony, but they made the right move. This game is chess not checkers, and will be decided over many moves over many years. Microsoft can drop the price of the Bone when they want to, but they are currently building a foundation that separates them from the other competitors (and will be competitors) in this marketplace.
Within this generation, we will see console functionality from many new competitors including Valve, Google, Apple, Amazon, and possibly a Super WiiU :) from Nintendo. Valve is going to win on power (PC). Google and Apple will be strong on integration with their existing ecosystems that will allow you to play IOS and Android games. Rumors have it that Amazon is going to have a strong Andriod tie in. Who knows what Nintendo will do (if anything), but they wont make the same mistakes of the WiiU or they are doooomed. Microsoft wants to win on providing games for core gamers, casuals, and ecosystem integration and they are in the best position to do so. If Sony wants to integrate into an OS (which I predict they will), they will to go down the route of Android. This will give them ties into an existing infrastructure, but they will won't own and make profit off these things, Google will. And lets not forget that this is a business, and profitability decides whether you'll stay alive.
I mentioned Apple above, but didn't reference the fact that they purchased the company that originally created the Kinect camera. You've be silly not to expect them to integrate the camera tracking technology in a console or AppleTV device that will allow users to control their interface and play games on their TV. Apple is playing catch up to Microsoft when it comes to ecosystem integration. The Bone contains 3 OS's, which allows Microsoft to adjust as their plan to spread apps and games across the XBone, Tablets, touch enabled computers, consoles, and windows Phone. The Kinect is also important because it is a user input device that can be used Xbone that can mimic (or more accurately map) gestures on tablets, touch enabled computers and winPhone.
I wish I had more time to about the virtues of the Kinect and my opinion on why they decided to go down that road, but I have to get to work...
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