Demand for the Kinect Adapter had been pretty intense over the past few months due to its rarity but yesterday’s confirmation that Microsoft has now ceased production of it altogether has pushed interest in it into overdrive.
As a result of this demand, the most-popular trending suggestion over on Microsoft’s Xbox UserVoice website is now one about Xbox One X buyers and how they should be provided with a free Kinect Adapter as Microsoft likely stopped making them before the Xbox One X even came out. This means that any Xbox One console owner who is upgrading to an Xbox One X is essentially being forced to dump their Kinect sensor due to the newer console not featuring a Kinect port. A few lucky Xbox One X buyers have been fortunate enough to track down an elusive Kinect Adapter but most haven’t been either due to them all being sold out in stores being resold at prices as high as $399 on auction sites like eBay.
There also seems to be a few loyal Xbox gamers who had been planning to upgrade to an Xbox One X console but are having second thoughts due to its lack of Kinect support.
It should be noted that while a lot of people are voting on this idea for a free adapter, many of those commenting are saying that they would be happy to buy a Kinect Adapter if Microsoft made them available again so this is more than just a bunch of people asking for something for free. With quite a few new Xbox One S and X buyers making their purchases after being told by official Microsoft marketing that their new consoles would support the Kinect though, perhaps a free Kinect Adapter is the least Microsoft could do to compensate them.
Microsoft choosing to discontinue the Kinect Adapter is definitely an odd decision given how in-demand the accessory is. One possible explanation could be that the company completely misread how many of its users actually use the Kinect sensors or factor its functionality into a new Xbox console purchase decision. Another could be that Microsoft is well-aware of the number of Kinect users but decided to deliberately force gamers off it in an attempt to push the market more towards traditional gaming titles and their new focus on 4K HDR and Windows 10 crossplay.
Let us know what you think the reason was for the dumping of Kinect and the Kinect Adapter in the comments below and head on over to the UserVoice idea and vote for it if you’d like to see more Kinect Adapters be made.
