While we all realized a long time ago that the Kinect only served to hold the Xbox One back, the head of Microsoft’s Xbox division Phil Spencer has now stated that he also believes that it doesn’t really add much to the core experience of the console, i.e. its video games

Speaking in an interview with GamesRadar, Spencer said: “The teams continue to look at ways that Kinect makes the entertainment experience better. I’d say the area that hasn’t really landed – and I don’t know if it will – is, ‘Is Kinect integral to all of the core gaming scenarios on our console in terms of minute-to-minute gameplay?’ There are genres where Kinect works really well, but if you’re playing Halo or Call Of Duty, there’s not really a scenario that says, ‘Hey, I need a Kinect.'”

Of course, Spencer is unlikely to come out and say that the Kinect is a failure, but this is as close to an industry person saying “yeah, we messed up” as you’re likely to hear while their product is still on store shelves. Spencer also continued to claim how the Kinect was a “great part” of the “Xbox One ecosystem,” while also saying that “there is a lot of excitement, and there are still announcements to come about what people are doing with it,” but we know the truth and he knows the truth; the Kinect will never break the mass market like Microsoft wants it to.

Microsoft has been steadily distancing the Xbox One from the Kinect, but has always maintained that the device was important as it allowed users to get the whole Xbox One experience. Now it seems that they’re giving up on that angle, too.

http://www.craveonline.com/gaming/articles/857947-microsofts-phil-spencer-admits-kinect-isnt-really-useful

Good to see that he's willing to admit it.

Kind of a shame, considering that Kinect did hurt the launch of the Xbox One.

Newsflash: Pope admits that the Earth is round!

Just the fact that it took Microsoft 5 years and a failed console launch to realize and admit what everybody else figured out sometime in 2011 just speaks volumes about ineptness of their leadership.

Lucky them they still have Bill Gates Windows legacy to fall back on, as the rest of the company is playing "follow the leader" for quite a while.

But it sure brought Money on x360 and you wanted to milk more customer with "it's integral to x1 experience". If it wasn't for the backlash you would still do it.

Well, that sucks for people that had to buy it with the console.

I think we knew this a while ago. It's no surprise that "core" games work better with a controller than with motion controls; but that doesn't invalidate the Kinect at all. Lord only knows how much fun I've had with Kinect Sports or even Kinect Adventures. Too much; perhaps. So long as there's games like that for the Kinect it shall continue to be a worthwhile addition to me.

And dare I say it MS will come to the same realisation with Hololens a few years down the track. Fortunately Hololens has great applicability and potential outside of gaming so it will be a general success as a UI, just not so much in gaming.

That statement can be applied to basically anything that is 180'd. Backlash lets you know people don't like it.

Never thought of that, it's so true. They're industry leaders in desktop OS' but they're playing catch up on pretty much all sects they're involved in. Damn.

There has been quite a few releases for Kinect so far, and some of them are really good (like Kinect sports Rivals and Fantasia to name a few), but of course Kinect doesn't serve a purpose for core gaming experiences like Halo. It is also important to remember that the original Kinect sold a ton of copies and helped lift the 360 so it is no surprise that they hold on to it.