Since Microsoft decided to remove Kinect from every Xbox One, thus allowing a price drop from $499 to $399, we've been wondering when the company would offer the option to purchase a Kinect separately. The answer is October 7, and it'll cost $149.99.

Microsoft will bundle Kinect with Dance Central: Spotlight, which features 10 songs.

While $149 might induce some sticker shock, Kinect for Xbox 360 launched at the same price in November 2010. That device went on to become a hit, but it seems unlikely the same is in store for Kinect on Xbox One, a device Microsoft seems to be moving on from.

With the only games for Kinect being Dance Central and Fantasia this seems like a bad move.

EDIT: I guess Crimson Dragon is technically a videogame?

Seems $50 too high at least. I realize it's probably expensive to produce, but most people can do the math in their head and realize they could buy a console with a Kinect for cheaper.

You might as well throw money out the fucking window.

it sucks for the people that made kinect only games xbox really shafted these guys bigtime

Not really a surprise. I mean, if Microsoft was serious about spreading it around despite the removal from the console bundle they would have kept it at $100, but the peripheral is sadly DOA. I say sadly, but I suppose there was never really any hopes for it in an era of Occulus and the device draining system resources which put their console even further behind the competition beyond even the whole virtual machine layering at the OS level *and* the fact that the GPU is lesser on a fundamental hardware level.

Microsoft are taking the biscuit.

pffftt yeah okay....

Jeez. Can Microsoft really not do math? Consumers didn't see enough value in the Kinect at $100 (roughly how much it increased the price of an XBONE). What makes them think that those same consumers will magically see more value in it at $150?

that's a lotta nuts

ahahahahahah....o wait you're serious. Well I hope Pope makes it our all right.

I guess they had to price it higher than $100 to keep people buying the bundle. But who's going to buy a $150 peripherial they already passed up at $100 that has been largely abandoned by Microsoft and developers? It's not like Microsoft announced anything down the pipeline that would convince people.

I'd better get my order in now before they all go!

@substance_d: That is the point.

As Dance Central's #1 fan I gotta say that's a steep ask, even for me.

If I buy a new console it will most likely be an X1, with Kinect, for Dance Central but I'm gonna need to see a much better library of games to justify (subsidize) the price tag that comes with Dance Centralling. Question is, will they still be making Kinect's by then 'cause that library seems a long way off.

I think Microsoft and Harmonix both made a huge mistake not getting this game out within the launch hype window.

I'm sure people who really want a kinect can just buy one from many of the people who bought the xbox early and don't use theirs.

Good one.

Wow...thats a pretty sad price. Even if it was $150 when it came out for the 360, at least the console wasn't $400 by then.

And lest not forget, you can get the always optional, somehow more popular, PS4 camera for a low cost of $60.

It is a more advanced piece of hardware than the 150 dollar kinect unit sold in 2010, as the article states. Why is anyone surprised by this exactly?

Even though it isn't the end all be all of cameras it is a more advanced unit and its barely been 4 years since the last one. I'm not surprised when the next iphone comes out at some absurd price, they've always been overpriced at launch. As lmitchell8075 said above, the point is to get you to get the one bundled with the kinect if you have any interest in one at all.

Insane. When you consider Kinect isn't going to be largely for games anymore (why would anyone make games for it) but mostly a way to maneuver about the dash, $150 is crazy-towns.

Erm. Yeah, I really don't think so.

I really like having the Kinect on the Xbone. At this point I can't imagine being without it, just for voice navigation/functionality.

But I sure as hell wouldn't pay 150 bucks for one.

OK so her's my idea to how to fix the kinect:

Turn it into a cheap standalone chromecast/boxee Netflix streaming box that works without the xbox one but keeps the voice/gesture/tv stuff.

Or better yet a psvita tv thing for streaming xbox to another tv.

Its probably too late to change the hardware/software but maybe for a kinect 3.0....

Nah, I don't need a Kinect. The only thing I would miss from not having one is screaming "Xbox record that!" when a game has a freakout and glitches out.

Hmm that's about what I guessed they would charge. Thanks for the great article! =)

I'm really hoping stuff like that can be added to voice support via headset or something. I'd hate for people to miss out on what I consider a core part of having an Xbox One, being able to yell at it.

The new Kinect is neat and it is way more powerful than the PS4 camera, I don't know why anyone would be shocked by the $150 price point. I wish MS would have just dropped the price to $399 with the Kinect and try to make it up somehow. Removing it makes it irrelevant...sadly.

Is there a fish in a bowl making all marketing decisions at Microsoft nowdays?

Terrible.

Who is going to buy this?

The perfect price to kill the product. Fine by me.

Wow, Microsoft just can't seem to get on the right track this generation.

No thanks.

"Get 'em while they're hot!

...Guys?"

I knew I should have bought the one I seen in cash converters for £20

How is this not $99? Learn how to take a hit for once, Microsoft, damn. Talk about not wanting your product to succeed.

It will actually cost me $0 because I don't plan on getting one in the near future. While the stuff it does with your tv is mildly interesting it does not seem to work well enough to justify the price nor are there any games on it that I want to play.

But.... The One only cost $100 more for the Kinect bundle...

I'm curious to see how well it does. The sheen came off the original pretty quickly, and they probably aren't going to dump the same volume of marketing money into this model.

Some of you may wish to pray for Rare.

I remember when kinect was actually a hot thing to buy, crazy times.

Great way to increase profits... ahah

Sell a Kinect-less console for 400$, 100$ less than the one bundled with Kinect, and price Kinect for 150$, so consumers wanting Kinect will pay 50$ more than people who bought the bundle in the first place, placing the total expenses at a whopping 550$. Microsoft never fails to impress with its attention to profit, and disregard for the consumer.

If Kinect still stood a chance of being relevant, this is the final nail in its coffin. With the lack of games for it, and the steep price, it would require a good amount of love to get one.

$150 above the right price.

sounds like a bullshit inflated number to justify their insistence on the thing in the first place and to try and push all the bundled units still sitting out there.

Blah.... navigating the system with voice commands is cool but it does NOT work nearly well enough to justify buying it at 150 bucks....

Signed , I've had it since day 1

The PS4 voice stuff works surprisingly well with a mic, even with my atrocious english.

not enough faces and palms exist in the known universe to accurately comment on this development.

You can get the PS4 camera (which, though not amazing, enables voice commands and 3D motion tracking) for $60. Hell, you can get a fucking 360 for $150.

If Microsoft has some ingenious plan to get everyone to hate them... well done?

Eep, $150 is a new, modern video card for a PC. That feels a little too much for the stand alone Kinect.

Eh...I'll just buy one for $20 on ebay in about a year n a half to two years. Not getting burned for the full $150 again.

I'm not one to ever really regret a purchasing decision when it comes to gaming as I can usually find some kind of positive thing about it, but man that first kinect fucking sucked.

As someone who bought the One with Kinect - the new sensor is what the first one wanted to be. It didn't even go through a long winded calibration, and was able to detect me right out of the box.

But in order to remove it from the box, Microsoft had to release a standalone. I don't think it's too expensive, and is probably in line with what it costs, plus the usual markup. Remember, anyone who wants one but doesnt own a One yet can just get the bundle and save $50 - this is only targeting people who buy the cheaper console and decide to partake in some dance games later.

The problem is that there are all of 2 games that require Kinect. 2. Neither are out yet.