When Microsoft launched Kinect, it was very confident in its achievements in natural interaction methods, and people were once optimistic that the motion-sensing trend led by Kinect would also spark exploration in many commercial fields, not to mention the tech enthusiasts who love tinkering with technology. However, after a series of wrong market strategies, it became a sacrifice, and now Microsoft has officially confirmed the discontinuation of Kinect.
The core strength of Kinect was the motion capture capability brought by its depth sensor, which was necessary in several motion-sensing games that emphasized physical activity at the time. Therefore, Kinect was very close to Xbox 360. However, in the Xbox One era, due to high pricing strategies and diminished novelty in functional experience, even mandatory bundling did not reverse the mainstream consumer group's impression of it, instead leaving a bad reputation for forcibly raising prices.
A little thought can determine that Kinect was a failure as a commercial product, but from the perspective of industry development, the technological innovations brought by Kinect not only benefited Microsoft itself, creating stunning products or features like HoloLens and Windows Hello, but even the compatible head-mounted displays of the Windows Mixed Reality platform used some Kinect technology to some extent. Mobile phone manufacturers have also applied depth sensing to dual-camera photography and facial recognition unlocking. Both Apple and Android are striving to catch up with this trend.
From this perspective, although Kinect is physically dead, the legacy it left behind allows the entire industry to get what they want from it, which can be considered a lifetime achievement.
