EA Riccitiello: I Don't Like Gesture-Based Driving Games
Motion control will remain a niche.
Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello has doubts that motion control will dominate the games industry in the future - near or otherwise. In a recent interview, he points to complex genres that work better with a traditional controller and casual buying habits to support his claim.
"I’ve had a number of people ask me 'Will gesture-based gaming replace controllers?' I don’t think so," Riccitiello told Industry Gamers. "I think that there will be genres where the gesture-based gaming, however delivered (Kinect, Move, or any other device that comes down the road), will actually be the superior way to play. Dance games, music games, exercise games. It’s really hard to imagine an exercise game with your thumbs.
"[But it's also] really hard to imagine that I’m going to play a future edition of Medal of Honor, or Call of Duty, or Battlefield, hiding behind my couch, making a gun out of my finger. I’ve tried driving with gesture-based controls; I don’t really like it."
The exec added that his household (containing fourteen and sixteen-year-old children) doesn't typically play more than one gesture-based game at any one time. "[On the other hand, on our] Xbox 360 and PS3, we've got three or four games going at any given time... [I'll] play by myself for three or four hours and I don't know that I'd ever do that with a gesture-based system."
Of course, Riccitiello's not railing on motion control entirely - he hopes that someone will be able to create a product that will ignite mainstream interest in Kinect and PlayStation Move in the same way that Guitar Hero and Rock Band did for plastic instruments.
"I think the more interesting thing for Kinect and Move is going to be what’s going to happen late next year in terms of how we see them, and then what new genres sprout up to support those control systems. I mean, if it weren’t for plastic guitars, the music sector never would have happened. In the same sort of way, what’s going to trigger the hot game? What’s going to use Kinect in just that way?"
"I’ve had a number of people ask me 'Will gesture-based gaming replace controllers?' I don’t think so," Riccitiello told Industry Gamers. "I think that there will be genres where the gesture-based gaming, however delivered (Kinect, Move, or any other device that comes down the road), will actually be the superior way to play. Dance games, music games, exercise games. It’s really hard to imagine an exercise game with your thumbs.
"[But it's also] really hard to imagine that I’m going to play a future edition of Medal of Honor, or Call of Duty, or Battlefield, hiding behind my couch, making a gun out of my finger. I’ve tried driving with gesture-based controls; I don’t really like it."
The exec added that his household (containing fourteen and sixteen-year-old children) doesn't typically play more than one gesture-based game at any one time. "[On the other hand, on our] Xbox 360 and PS3, we've got three or four games going at any given time... [I'll] play by myself for three or four hours and I don't know that I'd ever do that with a gesture-based system."
Of course, Riccitiello's not railing on motion control entirely - he hopes that someone will be able to create a product that will ignite mainstream interest in Kinect and PlayStation Move in the same way that Guitar Hero and Rock Band did for plastic instruments.
"I think the more interesting thing for Kinect and Move is going to be what’s going to happen late next year in terms of how we see them, and then what new genres sprout up to support those control systems. I mean, if it weren’t for plastic guitars, the music sector never would have happened. In the same sort of way, what’s going to trigger the hot game? What’s going to use Kinect in just that way?"
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