Oliver Haslam·

RIP: Microsoft Puts Final Nail In The Coffin For Kinect As It Discontinues Adapter Accessory For Xbox One S, X

Microsoft gave the Kinect a good college try. Having launched the first version and seeing it wither on the vine in the era of the Xbox 360, we saw the Kinect make a semi triumphant return when the Xbox One launched.

Following initial promise – again – the gaming community lost interest pretty quickly – again – and Microsoft finally stopped making the thing back in October.

Now another nail has been hammered into the sensor’s coffin, with Microsoft confirming that it no longer makes the Kinect Adapter, the hardware needed to plug a Kinect into an Xbox One S, Xbox One X or a Windows 10 PC.

After originally being offered for free to Xbox One S owners who for some reason wanted to continue to use their Kinect with their new console, Microsoft charged $39.99 for the accessory. Now the adapter is no more, with Microsoft confirming with a spokesperson saying “After careful consideration, we decided to stop manufacturing the Xbox Kinect Adapter to focus attention on launching new, higher fan-requested gaming accessories across Xbox One and Windows 10.”

If you still want one then you need to be quick about buying it – the Kinect Adapter is already showing as out of stock at major retailers both online and in-store. If you venture into the used market then you can expect to pay anything up to $300 which, let’s be frank, is absolute insanity.

Now that Microsoft has ceased making Kinect Adapters as well as Kinects themselves we can finally start to put the whole sordid affair behind us. Now we just find ourselves wondering where Microsoft will go from here, but we do know one thing – we really would not be surprised if we saw another Kinect-like accessory come out of Microsoft in the coming years.

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