Game Console

How Much Does the Xbox Kinect Cost

Cost of Xbox Kinect

The Xbox Kinect has been a booming topic in the gaming world in recent weeks. Since the Kinect was first released in2010, the Kinect has been in a package deal with the Xbox 360 and now the Xbox One. At the recent E3 conference, Microsoft has confirmed that they plan to begin selling the Xbox one alone and the Kinect portion separately. This has caused much controversy in the world of gamers mainly focusing on the future compatibility of games along with the cost of the system and Kinect alone. Many questions are in the air about future game development and how much effort will be put in to create compatibility with the Xbox Kinect now that it is not mandatory to purchase with the system.

Factors of Cost

This is a complicated question at the moment. As far as the current cost of the Xbox Kinect, there are multiple different purchasing options. Until later this year, the Kinect can only be purchased with a system but there are two different purchasing options. The Kinect comes either with the Xbox 360 or the Xbox One. The Kinect that is available for purchase bundled with the Xbox 360 is the original one and the Kinect available with the Xbox One is the newly upgraded Kinect 2.

The newly upgraded version available with the Xbox one is going to total substantially more, costing consistently $499.99 and that includes one controller and one game. Currently the games available in the bundle are either Titanfall or Forza Motorsport 5. For the older version of the Xbox and Kinect along with two games, the price has steadily decreased to an average of $299.99.

There are rumors going around that the price of the new Kinect alone is going to be somewhere around $100 but that could just be hopeful thinking from avid gamers. The difference in price between an Xbox One alone and the Xbox One with the Kinect is currently $100 so a better guess of the price of just the Kinect would be around $150 but that will be decided in the upcoming months.

Additional Costs

Just like with any other electronic device, chances of having technical difficulties and a part breaking is almost inevitable. Microsoft backs their products with a limited time guarantee for free technical support for a specified amount of time. After that time period, all technical problems will need to be fixed at your own cost.

The largest added cost when purchasing any gaming system is going to be the constant desire for new games. Yes, the bundle comes with one or two games but it shouldn’t take longer than a couple weeks or even only a few days before those games have been conquered. Xbox games can range anywhere from $10 up to $60 depending on how long ago it was first released.

Ways To Save

With an Xbox Kinect, prices are very comparable no matter which store you go to unless you are looking to buy used from either GameStop, eBay, or another shopping medium. Used consoles are typically only discounted 20-30% unlike many other used items that can be as much as 80% discounted.