@Carl2291
Do I work for Microsoft? How should I know why it needs to be plugged in? Console doesn't release for four months. Why talk about something that might change? Regardless you can report me for whatever you want. I've been on topic talking about Kinect the whole time.

How does bundling the Kinect make people who don't want to play Kinect games buy Kinect games? People who want Kinect games would buy the Kinect, like they have.

And wouldn't the Kinect being non-essential be a guarantee that it's use in games is unobtrusive and non-gimmicky/unforced? That would be a good thing.

this is from the AMA on reddit with the xbox one dev. he pretty much answered the same question you are asking. here is the question and answer

- Question : Couldn't you include it in the box and not require it to be hooked up? It seems like the 2 issues are not mutually exclusive, and people uncomfortable/uninterested with the Kinect could just throw it in a closet while it's still in every box at the same time.

Answer : The number of features on the Xbox One that uses the Kinect is almost too many to count. I can't imagine using the console without it. To me, I see two ways to deal with this.

1) Not require the Kinect to be always plugged in and have all these features turned off by default.
2) Enable these features by default and turn them off if people choose to turn off the Kinect.
The first choice would undermine our guarantee to game developers.
- This is one of those things they don't tell us until everyone else knows. But I have heard a wired headset will be included.

it wont change

Yes, it's a problem. It has effectively thwarted Microsoft's ability to price Xbox One competitively. Xbox One will always carry a higher price tag than PS4 for the rest of its life (unless it gets dominated in sales and MS has no other choice but to bleed profusely to keep the pace). Another thing, the audience who would potentially look at Kinect won't consider it until Xbox One is at least $299.

the act of requiring it to be plugged in guarantees a couple things.  there will be no second hand market for kinect.  every xbox one user has kinect connected to the system not thrown in the closet.  so they can add features that they think gamers will like .  think of kinect as the touch pad on the ps4 controller.  no developer is required to use it but if they want to they know that every ps4 user has this feature included.

the touchpad on the controller doesnt almost double the price of the console though

pricing is another story.  we are talking about why its included.  think if they wouldve sold ds4 with a touch pad attachment and not included.  how many people would've bought it?  then we would get labels on ps4 games better with ds4 touchpad.

I want to use the Kinect. I am interested in the voice commands, motion commands, twitch live streaming, Skype, etc. I think it is a good idea to bundle it. It will set the Xbox One apart from the PS4 and a few years down the road when the consoles reach $299 the X1 will seem like a better value with Kinect.

@Mutantclown
The majority of console sales don't happen till the $299 price point anyways.

I think bundling it with every Xbox One would likely remove a 2nd hand market for the device, because why would someone need a 2nd Kinect? Its not like the Wii Sports bundle, where its a disc in a card sleeve that can easily be lost/broken. Though I do see the point youre making here. 'tis a good one.

With the added features, people can still do it when they want. All they have to do is plug Kinect in. I see this is a meh point in all honesty.