Microsoft has officially killed off the Kinect adapter

Microsoft may have already put its motion control peripheral Kinect out to pasture, but it’s also put the kibosh on another part of the Kinect’s legacy, including the adapter that allowed it to work with the Xbox One models currently on store shelves. 

Microsoft may have already put its motion control peripheral Kinect out to pasture, but it’s also put the kibosh on another part of the Kinect’s legacy, including the adapter that allowed it to work with the Xbox One models currently on store shelves. 

Microsoft announced its decision (via Polygon) to put an end to the adapter and cease the manufacture of future models, noting that it will instead be focusing on “new, higher fan-requested gaming accessories across Xbox One and Windows 10.” 

The writing has been on the wall for some time, so this doesn’t exactly come as a surprise. In addition to discontinuing the Kinect itself in October, Microsoft didn’t even bother to include the Kinect port in either the Xbox One X or Xbox One S versions of the console, which is what the Kinect adapter was for. Now without the future manufacturing of the adapter, it’s been made quite clear that there’s just no more room for Kinect in the market anymore. 

It’s hard to believe it’s been 8 years since the Kinect came on the scene, but its influence was felt across a wide spectrum of tech ecosystems, notably in the DIY communities. It may be unwanted in the future of gaming, but the Kinect tech will still live on and likely do some good on its own, with or without the assistance of Microsoft to stand behind it.