Ubisoft Dev Says Traditional Controllers Still A “Barrier”

You would think by now, after games started outselling films, becoming the highest-grossing entertainment launch of all time, and after the sharp decline of motion-based gaming, that critics of the traditional controller would shut up. But Ubisoft’s Jade Raymond still sees it as a barrier, and contends Sony and Microsoft should put special effort in making motion gaming an indelible part of their next consoles.

The exec said this while speaking to OXM, drawing on history to solidify her stance.

“I was a big Trekkie when I was a kid and I still have this dream that, ultimately, we’re going to end up creating the Holodeck – you know, totally immersive experiences. I still think one of the huge barriers is the controller, and even people who played games when it used to be just one big red button and a D-pad can’t play games now.

You have to master face buttons, triggers and they all do different things. So obviously we’re never going to get to that really mass-market place where we’re touching a really broad audience with our messages with controllers, so Kinect and other more natural ways to interact with games are incredibly important. I think we can go further.”

Raymond went on: “Ubisoft’s had a lot of success with the dance games and it’s funny, I got this call from my sister saying, “Jane, have you tried this game, Just Dance? I love it!” and I said “yeah, that’s a Ubisoft game!” You know, she’s never bought a game in her life but she’s calling me to tell to try this one out. I think we need to keep pushing that.”

Raymond said she’d like to see motion technology integrated into hardcore games in a more seamless manner, rather than a tack on for appeasement.

As more of a hardcore gamer I want to see that stuff integrated into hardcore games in a way that makes them better because as fun as all those games are, I don’t really play exercise games – I can’t picture myself doing that. I’d love to be able to lean and look round the corner and just integrate more natural motions. The tech for those things isn’t quite there, but I hope it will soon.”