Is Kinect a fad? Is it a device that attracted wild enthusiasm that died fairly quickly?
Well, yes. Obviously. It was hailed as the next step in gaming. Controllerless and awesome. Everyone was excited, especially its detractors, as they had something new to attack. But, regardless of these detractors and the fears and doubt they spread, the Kinect sold superbly well. Everyone wanted to try it out.
Then people got it. And most were disappointed. The only function the device excelled at was dancing games (and similar) and receiving voice commands, and any old microphone could do voice commands aspect.
So, the enthusiasm for Kinect died relatively quickly, and 360 sales fell away quickly about a year after the device was launched. So, think for a moment, it's clear the Kinect was the very definition of 'fad'.
Then the One came along and included the camera with every console sold. By this point, the excitement for the device was largely gone. Kinect was not a primary selling point for most, though it did have fans in some quarters. It seems obvious few wanted the device for gaming. Of those mustering excitement and evangelising for their console of choice, they mostly referenced Kinect-based menu navigation with voice commands. But excitement levels for this were hardly high.
So, Kinect was a fad no longer. Indeed, it hardly registered as a cool thing to most gamers, no matter how much the device had improved from the earlier 360 version.
Therefore, Kinect was fad. It drove sales for the 360 in the latter months of the last generation when excitement for it was high, but as we know, these sales were not sustained. Then end-users realised the device did not perform as advertised, and word of this spread. The fad quickly died away, and Kinect was no longer a must-have piece of awesome. Instead, it was simply a camera with the 360, and, later, the One. It no longer drove sales; instead, it was seen by many as an impediment to sales, as it significantly raised the price of the One as a console, allowing the PS4 to appear much cheaper for a what appeared to be a better console.
tl;dr: Yes, Kinect was a fad. One that died. Now it's just a device that few care all that much about.
