IndustryGamers - Informing the Games Industry

Microsoft: Motion Controls Will Become the Norm

Posted October 2, 2009 by James Brightman

Microsoft is gearing up for the launch of Project Natal next year, and the company already has some pretty strong publisher and developer support. Right now, games that are controlled with motion sensing are sort of niche, but Microsoft believes motion controls will eventually become pretty standard.

Speaking to Kotaku, Microsoft Game Studios' corporate vice president Phil Spencer commented, "Much like with multiplayer, I think it will become the norm. If you are a racing game without multiplayer the game just didn't sell. We think that motion control, we think voice recognition, should become a part of gaming as well."

Obviously, Microsoft is going to push motion controls pretty hard now with all their publishing partners because they want Project Natal to really take hold. That said, Spencer stressed that they won't shoehorn motion controls into every game just for the heck of it. "Hacked in or quick to market ideas are not what we're looking for," he said. "We want to make sure that those experiences are world class."

He added, "When you are starting something new it is important to get some creative talent to innovate. The quality of the experience is going to be what defines it."

Indeed, Microsoft is actively hiring for its own Project Natal studio right now, and we're very curious to see what kinds of ideas that talent pool brings about. Nevertheless, we hope the industry doesn't become too obsessed with motion controls, as traditional controls often work much better for many gaming experiences. Quantic Dream founder David Cage recently said he thinks the motion sensing trend is just the wrong direction for the industry to head in.

James Brightman has been covering the games industry since 2003 and has been an avid gamer ever since the days of Atari and Intellivision. He was previously the EIC of GameDaily Biz.