Xbox executive Marc Whitten says that the Xbox One will not require the Kinect to be plugged in for the console to function.

When Microsoft first unveiled the Xbox One, one of the things people took issue with was the fact that the console required the Kinect to function. In other words, if you unplugged your Kinect, you wouldn’t be able to use your Xbox One. Privacy concerns aside, it was a strange decision to make the console unusable without it. Now, it seems that the company is continuing to take back some of the things it said when it first announced the console, most likely due to negative feedback:

“Games use Kinect in a variety of amazing ways, from adding voice to control your squad mates, to adding lean and other simple controls beyond the controller, to full immersive gameplay. That said, like online, the console will still function if Kinect isn’t plugged in, although you won’t be able to use any feature or experience that explicitly uses the sensor.”

Microsoft has been busy cleaning up the bad impression the Xbox One made when it was first announced. No longer requiring the Kinect to be plugged should be a welcome change for some, but whether or not it will make a difference will only be clear come the holiday season.

[via Joystiq]