International Data Corporation's most recent outlook on video game console sales suggests that the sales battle between Microsoft and Sony could heat up thanks to one key factor this fall and that's the removal of Xbox One's motion-camera Kinect device from the retail package.
"The presumed unbundling of Kinect and Xbox One, which should facilitate rough price parity between it and the PS4, should lead to a spike in Xbox One sales," the report states. "IDC expects Xbox One to recover and emerge with the largest installed base of any console in North America by the end of 2016."
While we'd like to see an Xbox One console available for sale without a Kinect camera to bring about a lower cost to the consumer, doing so would also eliminate a large piece of what makes Xbox One a next-gen gaming console given that so much of the hardware's multi-tasking Snap feature relies on voice commands received by the Kinect console.
If Microsoft does remove Kinect from the retail Xbox One package, how do you think they should reimplement Snap and app-switching capabilities that are otherwise inaccessible or frustrating to use with just the controller?
