Microsoft has announced that it will permanently stop production of its Kinect camera, more specifically of its Azure Kinect Developer Kit module reserved for professionals. The end of an era, even if the object has not been intended for the general public for a long time.
This time it’s over. Microsoft announced End production of Azure Kinect Developer Kits. It is an emblematic object of the American brand which is retired.
It is the professional version of Kinect (launched in 2019) which is concerned, the consumer version having already been buried in 2017. However, Microsoft would like to point out that Kinect’s legacy will live on. The device introduced technologies still used today in other devices like the HoloLens 2.
Microsoft drives the final nail in Kinect’s coffin
This decision is not surprising, given that the Redmond company now has other hardware objectives. Furthermore, gesture recognition is out of fashion. Kinect is therefore definitely part of the past and leaves a somewhat curious trace in the history of Microsoft.
It was in 2009 that the Natal Project is announced at E3. This camera is then totally focused on gaming, since it was thought of as an Xbox 360 peripheral. Identifying the movements, but also the voices of the players, it wanted to completely replace the controller. The demonstrations (sometimes smoky, we remember Milo) then sounded like a revolution. Between the Wii and PlayStation Move, motion gaming was all the rage.
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The Natal project, renamed Kinect, was finally released in 2010 and failed to establish itself elsewhere than in user-friendly games. Microsoft went all out in 2013 by including it by default in his new Xbox One. The console was then sold as a multimedia center and Kinect thought of as a new way to interact with it. But the mayonnaise did not take and finally, Microsoft had to admit its failure by offering a console without a year later. It was in 2017, when Kinect was already has-been the product has long since been discontinued.
But Kinect had meanwhile proven itself in other areas, such as the professional world. A development kit was then offered for purchase. This is the one who sees his production stop Today.
Kinect is definitely dead. A few days after the announcement of the shutdown of the Xbox 360 store, another remnant of the august console is disappearing.