Today Microsoft announced the future release of an Xbox One SKU without Kinect, and of course major Xbox executives have been bombarded with questions on Twitter. Two prominent ones decided to give their take on the decision:
Director of Product Planning Albert Penello, who previously said the removal of the camera would never happen, doesn’t seem to be too worried about the past:
Sure! I think this shows we listen and respond to feedback from fans. Excited to have a new approachable price point.
Chief of Staff Aaron Greenberg is pretty much on the same wavelength, and explained that Microsoft still intends to invest in Kinect:
Always open to feedback from our fans, we believe giving more choice and still supporting Kinect is a good thing.
Still fully support Kinect and investing there, this is about offering more choice for our fans.
Interestingly enough Greenberg was asked if gamers will be able to keep the free Xbox One games downloaded with thanks to the Games with Gold offer, and he confirmed that they will, openly contradicting the fine print in today’s announcement about the issue.
If Greenberg is to be believed (and there’s no reason not to) we’ll be able to keep our free Xbox One games even after the expiration of our Xbox Live Gold subscription’s expiration. At the moment we don’t really know the reason behind the discrepancy, so we’ll have to stand by for further confirmation.
Aaron Greenberg
