Truly, the age of motion-controlled gaming has arrived. Sony Computer Entertainment just revealed the Playstation Move. They have beaten Microsoft to the punch. We now know what Move is, how it works, and – to some degree – how much it costs. But I have a question to ask Sony: who is it for?
From the moment Sony first revealed their motion control initiative at E3 2009, I thought their intentions were distinctly different from Nintendo and Microsoft. Let’s think about the competition for a moment.
Nintendo, famously and successfully, pioneered motion – no, gestural – control with the Wii. Suddenly, it was easy for people who had never played a game to jump right in. The hardware and the games exuded friendliness and approachability. The price was right. The rest is history.
Microsoft’s motion control initiative, the camera-based Natal, is designed to lure those same casual gamers. In fact, it’s designed to be even more casual-friendly. Is holding a controller too difficult for you? Don’t worry! With Natal you won’t have to. Microsoft’s mistake is in not recognizing that casual gamers are scared of the Xbox. No matter how many avatars, how many Game Rooms, how many versions of Lips Microsoft puts out, Xbox is and always will be the system that Halo built and Gears of War has grown. A Soccer Mom at Walmart is no more likely to bring home an Xbox 360 than she is to take the family to a Saturday matinee of Saw.
Enter Sony. They would also very much like to capture Nintendo’s casual audience. Sony exec Peter Dille literally said as much during Sony’s GDC press conference. But, in their hearts, I think Sony knows this is not to be. They launched with the highest price. Even today, their console is significantly more expensive than the competition. Sony remains very focused on a hi-def, cutting-edge entertainment message, and that is a hard sell to the casual consumer.
Complicating matters, the Move hardware will be available in several different configurations. History has proven, time and again, that this approach only confuses consumers, but game companies just keep trying. The Move controller can be purchased on its own for people who already own the required PlayStation Eye. Or, if needed, you can buy it with the Eye and a game. If you have nothing at all, you can even get a package that contains the PS3, the Move controller, an Eye, and a game. But that’s not all there is…
Continue to part 2 for more on PlayStation’s new Motion Controller…
There is also a secondary controller that can be used with the Move wand, much like a Nunchuk with a Wii Remote. How many games will require it? We don’t know. Also consider that several games in Move’s sizzle reel clearly show one gamer using two Move wands. How much, realistically, is this going to cost?
The only price Sony has given so far is for the Starter Kit, which includes a Move wand, a Playstation Eye, and a game. Sony has promised it will retail for less than $100. Take it as they’d like to charge you $99.99. It may ultimately be less, but right now I’d bet that’s close to the target. Add in a $300 PS3, and you could have bought two Wiis. You could, in fact, have purchased a Wii, Wii Sports Resort, Wii Play (for the extra controller), an extra Wii Motion Plus, Endless Ocean 2 and Mario Kart. Which would you choose? My point here is that there is no way to make the value proposition work in favor of Move, and value is clearly a driving factor for the casual market.
So, with the casual audience seemingly out of reach, who is left for Move? Only the hardcore. To be sure, Sony is marketing Move to a casual audience. They’re making games for a casual audience. But they need to sell Playstation Move to people who already own a PS3. And that, my friend, means you.
At E3 09, the first Move feature Sony wanted to show off was the accuracy of the controller. They claimed it was super accurate. Knock a helmet off some skeleton-warrior guy using only the very tip of your virtual sword accurate. Accuracy was a point Sony made again at GDC 2010. But accuracy is not a feature casual gamers really understand, much less demand. Is the control in Wii Sports Tennis accurate? Well, kinda. It’s accurate enough for most people. The only gamers who require pinpoint accuracy – the kind that Sony is claiming for Move – are the hardcore. The only games that require that degree of accuracy are hardcore games. Fighting games and, especially, first person shooters. But do hardcore gamers want motion control?
Sony is betting they do. Despite the Wii Sports knock-offs and shooting gallery games, Sony has exactly one big, important title supporting Move: Socom 4. The new title in Sony’s premiere shooting franchise (which has yet to be truly represented on current-gen hardware) fully supports Move. If Socom is not a game for the hardcore, I don’t know what is. Now, I have not had a chance to play Socom on Move, and I willingly concede that it may be great. Move control may be a game changing feature that every other FPS on PS3 will have to catch up to. But nobody asked for it. I’m not sure anyone wants it. And I doubt that anyone will want to pay extra (wanna bet on a Socom/Move bundle?) for the opportunity to try it out.
Nintendo’s current success has not been built on the support of hardcore gamers. Indeed, the hardcore community has been vocal, from the very first day, about their disdain for the Wii. Sure, Wii’s underpowered graphics and lackluster network support get a lot of grief. So does the Wii’s control scheme. “Waggle” is not a compliment. Sony seems to think a better engineered, more accurate version of “waggle,” with more mature games, will appeal to the hardcore. But, almost by definition, the hardcore don’t want it. At all.
Move may very well be a turning point for Sony. They have clearly made a significant investment in the technology. For better or worse, it is likely to redefine how we think about motion control. But I fear it’s a technology without an audience. Too expensive for the casual consumer, and unwanted by the hardcore, who is going to buy PlayStation Move? Are you?
