Microsoft ends Kinect manufacturing

[NegaScott128]

https://www.fastcodesign.com/9014786...ing-the-kinect

Manufacturing of the Kinect has shut down. Originally created for the Xbox 360, Microsoft’s watershed depth camera and voice recognition microphone sold ~35 million units since its debut in 2010, but Microsoft will no longer produce it when retailers sell off their existing stock. The company will continue to support Kinect for customers on Xbox, but ongoing developer tools remain unclear. Microsoft shared the news with Co.Design in exclusive interviews with Alex Kipman, creator of the Kinect, and Matthew Lapsen, GM of Xbox Devices Marketing.

[Dynamo of Eternia]

[Steelmaker]

Not surprised. I always thought it was horseshit.

[Talal86]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDvHlwNvXaM

[dyne]

I've read some behind the scenes accounts about that Milo demo. Such a trainwreck.

I remember being in San Diego before the first one came out (about a year before) and sitting down in meetings with a rep trying to sell us on the thing. Immediately I knew it was a decent idea in theory but would never work consistently the way they were saying it would (the original hardware was crap). I was the only one in a room of about 3 dozen people saying this. Everybody else were parents and/or casual game players and the appeal of flapping your arms (when you could just press a button that would be accurate 100% of the times) was just too enticing to them. They all fell for it. Even when we got to demo it and it worked about 30% of the time they still loved it. This was also an albatross around the development of the One that they're still trying to recover from.

I also still blame this for putting Rare where they are right now. Besides Rare Replay (which I will never stop saying how amazing it is) the only thing of interest from them was Nuts and Bolts. Although Sea of Thieves (from what I've played in the Alpha) looks to be a return to form I feel if it doesn't pan out that may be their last shot.

[Vilya]

Didn't Microshaft just end support of their cell phones recently, too? It seems they make a lot of announcements about what failed product they are giving up on. If only they would announce the same fate for Windoze 10.

[Captain Flint]

Never gave a damn about these motion sensitive things or whatever they're called. Good riddance. Nobody I know ever had one or talked about it haha.

[NegaScott128]

Originally Posted by dyne

I remember being in San Diego before the first one came out (about a year before) and sitting down in meetings with a rep trying to sell us on the thing. Immediately I knew it was a decent idea in theory but would never work consistently the way they were saying it would (the original hardware was crap). I was the only one in a room of about 3 dozen people saying this. Everybody else were parents and/or casual game players and the appeal of flapping your arms (when you could just press a button that would be accurate 100% of the times) was just too enticing to them. They all fell for it. Even when we got to demo it and it worked about 30% of the time they still loved it. This was also an albatross around the development of the One that they're still trying to recover from.

And what's worse is that, had they waited for the Xbox One to introduce Kinect, they might have been able to make it work. As you said, the original model was crap, but the XBone version was an improvement. The awful reputation of the original Kinect tarnished the improved version, and basically killed its chances of succeeding before it even came out.

[Andrew4ik]

Oh, I remember how we met with the guys and played games on kinect

[Captain N]

I actually think Kinect may become a nostalgic trip down the road. The 360 has a strange lineup of titles, some of which remain pretty fun, even if it doesn't work entirely as well as we'd like it to.

There will probably never be anything quite like it again in the industry.