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Comment by rtfeldman | Hacker News Reader

Kinect has the bad kind of validation though: people are so disinterested in paying for it that Microsoft has unbundled it from the XBox in an effort to stop it from dragging down sales.

http://www.spartanpr.com/xbox-one-kinect-u-turn-the-pr-impac...

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"People" here refers more to the hardcore gamers than anything else. Regular folks seem to love playing games designed for it.

Perhaps, but are "regular folks" that inclined to buy an Xbox One just to play a few Kinect games? Sales figures suggest not.

What sales figures? Xbox One without Kinect started to be sold today. I think it's a little early to tell if Kinect was the thing holding all those sales.

If you're comparing sales figures from XboxOne (w/ Kinect) versus PS4 (w/o Move), I think that adds too many variables to be object right now.

Let's see how this thing goes. Good thing is there is more option now. If you don't care about Kinect, you're not forced to buy it anymore. It doesn't change the fact it's an incredible piece of technology.

http://news.xbox.com/2014/05/xbox-delivering-more-choices

First, beginning on June 9th, in all markets where Xbox One is sold, we will offer Xbox One starting at $399. This is a new console option that does not include Kinect.

I think regular folks love the idea of the kinect when they first experience it, but their interest in it fades quickly.
Maybe it's a lack of compelling software, but most "regular" folk that I know use their Kinect as a Dance Central machine. Kind of how most people buy a wii for Wii sports and nothing else.

There are two answers, both in corporate speak advertising, and the other answer being based in reality, to the question of is the xbox a general purpose living room computer appliance or is it a hard core (aka only first person shooters) gamer platform? Nobody really knows.
Observationally "regular folks" play games on their phones, tablets, wii, not xbox, vs "real gamers" have $3000 gamer PCs with gamer mice and multiple $750 graphics cards and overclocked CPUs and water cooling. I guess someone could aim for the non-lucrative market in between...

Regular folks loved Wii too, now look how great WiiU is doing.

Well, looks like regular people do not love the WiiU.
Why would you expect them to buy a completely different design just because they liked something else made by the same company? It's a fact that regular people made the Wii extremely successful, do you really expect more?

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