An Xbox One developer has taken to Reddit anonymously to clarify some misconceptions regarding Microsoft’s upcoming console. The unnamed developer proved his status to Reddit’s moderators but refused to share any proof regarding his identity or answer any questions that might reveal it.
Bound by the need to protect his identity, the Xbox One developer didn’t answer a lot of questions. Perhaps the most important piece of info he shared is about how integral Kinect is to Xbox One. "The majority of the masses care only about the console," he said. "Except that the success of the Kinect carries much more weight to us. The sensor costs almost as much as the console to make."
"The goal with having a Kinect ship with every Xbox is to guarantee to game developers if they implement Kinect features into their games, everyone who has an Xbox will be able to experience it. I often see people dismiss the Kinect instantly because they haven't seen it work like I have. It is an integral part of the Xbox One experience."
The Xbox One developer also defended Microsoft’s decision to make always-on.
"The number of features on the Xbox One that uses the Kinect is almost too many to count. I can't imagine using the console without it. To me, I see two ways to deal with this.
1) Not require the Kinect to be always plugged in and have all these features turned off by default.
2) Enable these features by default and turn them off if people choose to turn off the Kinect.
The first choice would undermine our guarantee to game developers."