Kinect officially dead
Well bam, there it is.
The writing has been on the wall for some time, but now Microsoft has officially rubber-stamped it: Kinect is dead.
Microsoft is no longer manufacturing the add-on camera, Co.Design reports.
Kinect is listed as out of stock on the Microsoft store, but some shops still have stock available.
Kinect became the fastest-selling consumer electronics device in history upon its 2010 launch, but support dwindled and eventually died after Microsoft's ill-fated push to bundle a Kinect with each Xbox One, pushing up the price of the console in the process.
Microsoft will continue to offer customer support for Kinect, which ended up selling around 35m units, but support for developer tools remains up in the air.
Now Microsoft's decision for Xbox One X to not include the Xbox One S offer of a free Kinect adaptor makes more sense.
In 2015 Edwin penned a feature titled, Rare and the rise and fall of Kinect, which is well worth a read if you're interested in the device's demise. Prior to working on Sea of Thieves, Rare built Kinect exclusives Kinect Sports and Kinect Sports Season Two. Kinect Sports Rivals was the Xbox One offering.
As far as Microsoft's concerned, it's more interested in "mixed reality" these days, but the Kinect sensor lives on inside the HoloLens AR headset.