Microsoft has revealed that the Xbox One will be dropping the mandatory Kinect requirement for the upcoming console, an item that gave rise to privacy concerns among some gamers.
Chief Xbox One Platform Architect Marc Whitten, speaking in an IGN liveblog, said that the Kinect would not have to be plugged in for the game console to work. This wasn’t previously the case. IGN readers followed up with questions as to how functional the console would be without the Kinect.
Whitten responded “You have the ability to completely turn the sensor off in your settings. When in this mode, the sensor is not collecting any information. Any functionality that relies on voice, video, gesture or more won’t work. We still support using it for IR blasting in this mode. You can turn the sensor back on at any time through settings, and if you enter into a required Kinect experience (like Kinect Sports Rivals for instance), you’ll get a message asking if you want to turn the sensor back on in order to continue.”
Source: Ars Technica