So March NPD results are in, even with the massively hyped Titanfall, a $50 pricedrop, and a free game bundled, XBO still couldn't turn the tides in the US. In fact it wasn't even close with a 60k difference between the two. A lot of people have been suggesting that Microsoft offer a Kinect-less SKU at a cheaper price. It seems smart, especially since Kinect games like Fighter Within and Kinect Sports Rivals aren't reviewing too well, but it may not be that simple. MS announced that the XBO had shipped 5m units, according to VGC it's only sold 4.2m units. If MS does offer a Kinect-less SKU then that means there will be about 800k unsold Kinects sitting around. Who knows how many more they've got manufactored? My question is, does it make financial sense to get rid of Kinect now? Or should Microsoft keep Kinect and just make a price drop for the whole thing?

no, kinect is essential to the xbox, they can't just hit a switch and remove it

Nah... They invested too much into it already and I feel it's the last strand of pride they have left.

I think so cause hardly any games use the Kinect nor are there many games built around it... The X1's must have feature isn't really Kinect (although idk what it would be) so yea, they should get rid of it

I don't think so. Without Kinect Xb one has essentially no point of difference for gamers, and even if it made Xb one $50 cheaper than PS4 it wouldn't do much to reduce the weekly sales gap. Pay less-get less is not exactly a major selling point. At least with pay the same-get more (as in Kinect) there's something there to base marketing on.

Yes,

They need to undercut the PS4 price by any means, win back some market share and do it quickly. Easiest way to cut price is make a kinetic less sku. Its big picture time, selling more X1 and keeping up with PS4 is more important then the barely used camera no matter what they had originally planned.

Kinect should have been sold separately. Then most of that 800k might have been sold.

I think it's best they kept it considering their overall strategy, but they should figure out how to lower the price to make the entire system more competitive. They should also start releasing compelling software that uses the features in a meaningful way.

I don't find a Kinect less system would be best - all things considered.

6 months in? No. Although they need to get some games rolling out for it. Drop the price to $400 and ride this out. The sales are not bad at all. The generation will be long. Don't play the short game.

I don't really know...on the one hand they really need to find a way to move units. The seemingly impending loss of the U.S. Market (for the whole generation) could be awful for them.

But on the other hand what is the Xbox One without it? Just a weaker PS4 right? Considering that the Kinect is estimated to only add $70 to the cost of the Xbox One even if they drop it in order to compete price wise they will be losing more money than Sony will per PS4 and there is no guarantee that it will push enough units to be worth it.

Remove the kinect to drop the price...or Keep the kinect as the defining feature of the console...It's a tough choice, and one I imagine MS is fighting about right now.