No, it's as if Microsoft treats that Kinect never exist, just like how Sony treats PS Vita in its last years.
Microsoft seems to still acknowledge the Kinect given they made a new one for the XBox One.
And if Microsoft really wanted to make an official light gun for the XBox One or X/S at an affordable price then the Kinect would be the only way around it.
As far as I'm aware,
Sinden Lightguns maybe an Indiegogo based business but they still make light guns for modern monitors without the need of infra red sensor bars. Thing is though given they have somewhat of a monopoly on these kinds of guns, they're rather expensive. I'd have to pay £85 if I wanted a standard light gun from Sinden. £135 if I want it with recoil.
Given how common and quality webcams are today, I believe webcams are the only cheap alternatives for light guns to work on modern screens, but it doesn't seem this concept is properly tapped into yet. If third-party developers for PC controllers can mass produce gyroscopic technology for their light gun controllers all they need to do is either include a cheap infra red sensor with the light gun or add on the box "Webcam required for use".
The
PlayStation Move for example is somewhat of a knock off to the Wii-mote. Like the Wii-mote it uses gyroscopic sensors so the games know how you are holding the remote. But unlike the Wii-mote it doesn't need a sensor bar to play. Instead however it needs the PlayStation Eye or the PlayStation Cam to be used as a sensor.
On eBay, depending on the seller, a PlayStation Move controller price ranges from £25-80 which is somewhat of a hefty price but still more affordable than Sinden's light guns.
I don't know how cheap this gyroscopic motion sensing technology is for todays video game industry but given Nintendo's gone 100% on it with Wii-mote and JoyCons and PlayStation has made it the standard since DualShock 4 controllers I imagine the tech would be cheap and accessible for Microsoft to use to make a light gun that the Kinect can pick up on.
Or if they want to be particularly cheap, maybe the light gun simply uses a tiny LED bulb in the muzzle of the light gun that the game can pick up on and the bulb flashes whenever the trigger is pulled indicating an action. But that would make the light gun rather inaccurate and would require additional programming in light gun games to know how to respond to such things.
I believe if Microsoft wanted to release an official light gun for the XBox One or X/S, the best way for them to do it is to make a light gun with gyroscopic motion sensory and the Kinect itself for motion sensory.
Heck if Sega themselves wanted to re-release the Light Phaser, Menacer or Virtua Gun for modern monitors and can't collab with Sinden to make such controllers (for more reasonable prices) then they could probably ask Retro-Bit or a third-party manufacturer to make such guns for them with both gyroscope sensors and a clear "Webcam requirement" label on them.
Such a product would still be rather expensive though. Probably sell for the price of £40-60GBP which is a hefty price but affordable.
So yeah. Webcams being that common these days, I believe are the only way for us to have light guns on modern monitors at affordable prices.
