On Wednesday, senior Co.Design writer Mark Wilson broke the exclusive news that Microsoft has stopped manufacturing their Kinect peripheral and will no longer produce it once retailers sell off their current existing stock. The company shared the news with Co.Design by having the creator of the Kinect, Alex Kipman, and the GM of Xbox Devices Marketing, Matthew Lapsen give exclusive interviews.

The history and sales behind Kinect

The Kinect was announced by Microsoft back at E3 2009, under the codename “Project Natal.” It was then officially released just over a year later in November 2010 for the Xbox 360.

In February 2012, a special version for Microsoft Windows was released.

This was then followed up with a newer version of the device, Kinect 2.0, that was packaged with the Xbox One when it launched in November 2013. However, this was a controversial decision as many gamers did not like that they were forced to purchase the peripheral with the system. In June 2014, Microsoft made the decision to offer Xbox One bundles without the Kinect.

Last April, the decision was made to end production of the Kinect for the Xbox 360, and now Xbox One version has met the same fate. In May 2011, the Guinness Book of Records declared it the fastest-selling electronic gizmo of all time as Microsoft had sold about 10 million Kinect motion controllers for the 360.

Overall, the peripheral sold around 35 million units since its 2010 debut.

The end of motion sensing fad

The Kinect launched as a motion sensing input device that was based around a webcam-like device. This allowed users control and interaction with the device through gestures and spoken commands without using a controller. Both Microsoft and Sony, who released their PlayStation Move in September 2010, were attempting to capitalize on bringing in more casual gamers after Nintendo had been so successful doing so with the Wii.

However, neither device was able to maintain long-term popularity as the motion sensing fad ended and many casual gamers took to playing on their mobile devices. In recent years, virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) have latched on to fill that niche role that motion sensing gaming once held.

In recent years support for third party games being developed with the Kinect in mind has fallen off and Microsoft itself has been criticized by some for its lack of using the device.

The Kinect did not even have a dedicated jack for the Xbox One S or One X, as an adapter would have to be used to hook it up.
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