Kinect died twice: once as a product, once as a cable
Kinect discontinued in 2017, and its only adapter discontinued weeks later
The market's verdict: +5.5% on MSFT in the week after.
What actually happened
On October 25, 2017, Microsoft confirmed it had stopped making the Kinect, the sensor it had once called fundamental to the Xbox One. Then, on January 2, 2018, it discontinued the 40 dollar USB adapter that was the only way to connect a Kinect to an Xbox One S or X, the consoles without the proprietary port, "to focus attention on launching new, higher fan-requested gaming accessories". Owners who wanted to keep using the peripheral on current hardware watched second-hand adapters resell for 150 to 300 dollars. The accessory strategy for the accessory was to remove the accessory.
This one is well documented.
They did it more than once
Unbundled in 2014, discontinued in 2017, stranded by a cable in 2018. A three-act retirement.
Links
↳ caused by Kinect end of manufacturing (October 2017)
Timeline
- Oct 25, 2017 Stood by it Microsoft stood by it.