They need to lose more money.

Get rid of it!

Yes, it does.
Name one thing absolutely essential about it for gaming.

It's not used for games. Only for shovelware like Kinect Sports. No gamer in the world really needs it. Sure, it brings some nice features for menu navigation and stuff. But only a fraction of Microsofts target group wants that stuff. So ditch the kinect, sell it as an accessory, because that's what it truly is.

It's like Sony would be force bundling every PS4 with a Vita. I mean, the Vita is awesome with the PS4 and brings oh so many features. But still, not everybody wants it. You should never force something upon your customers. They don't like that kind of stuff. Kinect hurts the Xbox One more than it helps.

All in my opinion, of course. :P

This doesn't make sense.

Is Microsoft going to open the already shipped X1 boxes and take the kinect out?

I don't understand why people assume that a kinect less sku is the same as dropping kinect. There can be a PRO SKU with Kinect and a CORE SKU without kinect. And kinect can be available separately. It would be the same strategy that worked last generation for the hdd and the wireless controller. It's clear that a $500 price tag is too high for a videogame system. And it doesn't matter how much stuff you put in the box. It's too high for the average buyer income. Frankly X1 is doing better than most (reasonable) people predicted.

I use Kinect all the time on my X1. If it wasn´t there, I would of course use the controller, but it just elevates the X1 to be a more evolved gaming machine. It is also, by far, the best camera for Skype ever. The games aren´t really there, and that is a big srew-up from MS, but it has other uses than just for games.

MS would benefit more from undercutting the PS4 price-wise, take that loss and go for making it up through software. They are, in my view, far stronger when it comes to games and it would make them the leader in US+UK.

MS do need to work on what strategy they have in Europe because that is far from a stronghold.

no they should keep the kinect. It has its uses within the UI and some games ,, plus its selling much better then the 360 in the same time . Considering its only available in 13 countries ,, cost 500,, i would say the console is selling pretty well. MS just needs market kinect is an accessory to the controller rather then a controller replacement. For example ,, talking GPS in NFS . Its handy as you do't have time to check the map. Stuff like that kinect will work very well in.

If they want any chance to win 8th gen yes. They could sell Xbox One with a game for 375 without it, that may give a small chance...

I really don't think they can. They clearly stated that the Kinect is part of the X1 experience so removing it would mean the experience wouldn't be as great for what they said. They will have to live with the Kinect now.