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.

User Actions

   Follow

Aaron Greenberg‏@aarongreenberg

@tordavis Yes

•   Reply 
•   Retweet 
•   Favorite 
•   More

2:41 PM - 13 May 2014

Ok so worst case, its on par with PS+. Best case its better.

They really need to get on the same page though. Idk what to believe, the fine print, or the Chief of Staff

Basically, it works exactly like PS+ now. So long as you choose to "buy" the free game during its temporary offer period AND keep your Live subscription active, all of the games are yours to keep.

Honestly, I thought that's how Live's free games worked already. It wasn't until today's news came out that I realized there was some kind of difference as everyone is making a big deal out of it.

It's better once Microsoft gets consistently great games on there.

Even then, PS+ gives you access to free games for 3 devices, that's 6-7 free games a month if you own all three, which is certainly possible.

As you can see from the sales, not many people own a Vita though, let alone Vita, PS3, PS4 and PS+

Of course you can keep them, just like you can on PS+

Oh you mean after the subscription ends? Then perhaps you needed to ask him the proper question.

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,

Yes, I mean after the subscription ends

Yayyy, thats good news if its true

True, but at the rates the sales a big portion of PS4 owners will also have a PS3, which is already 5 or more games per month, even without the Vita. 

You can also "buy" the games even if you don't have the console, in case you decide to get one later on.