Microsoft will continue supporting Kinect, despite standalone Xbox One

Despite the impending price cut that will arise from the unbundling of the Kinect from the Xbox One, Microsoft frontman Larry 'Major Nelson' Hryb wants it to be known that this doesn't mean the company is giving up on the peripheral. Microsoft recently announced the Kinect, which makes use of body tracking and voice recognition to control certain aspects of the console (and sometimes play games), will no longer be bundled with each Xbox One, as it was when the system first launched.

"We are not discontinuing Kinect or support for it. We still have a whole team of folks working on that," Hryb said in his latest podcast.

"But we want to give everybody who would like to get in on the Xbox One action an opportunity," Hryb said. At $399, the new console is now at a much more attractive price point equal with the PS4 which outsold the Xbox One for the fourth straight month in April.

While the $399 price will likely appeal to consumers, it seems Hryb's statements are more aimed at developers which have expressed concern over the new Kinect-less Xbox One. Of course, had developers created a game that truly makes the Kinect a must-have maybe Microsoft wouldn't have had to offer a bundle without one.

The new $399 Xbox One goes on sale June 9. People who buy an Xbox One without a Kinect will have the chance to purchase the peripheral later, but pricing has not yet been announced. I'm guessing it'll cost anywhere between $100 to $120.

[GameSpot]