While the Kinect was sold to the public as a video gaming peripheral, it was an extremely inexpensive LIDAR with impressive capabilities for the time (2 years ago).

From an economic standpoint, it was most successful in selling a boatload of units. However, from a game enthusiast's view, I see it as a stepping stone to something bigger, like the LEAP.

At this point, the Kinect is dated. The LEAP comes out Q4 of this year and is vastly superior (from what I've seen).