Activision's Tippl sceptical of Kinect and Move

Activision chief operating officer Thomas Tippl has said he is "concerned" about the high price of the new Kinect and Move motion control systems.

"I think as a publisher, you have to be concerned about how the price drives a lot of the outcome of how big of an install base there's going to be [for hardware]," he told website Gamasutra.

"The bigger the install base, the more likely that you can make sense out of your investment. So, the lower the price, the better. In this economic environment, it's probably more important than ever," he added.

Although no official price for Kinect has been announced, it now seems increasingly likely that it will cost $150 in the US. The basic Move controller is priced at $50 but also requires a PlayStation Eye camera and Navigation Controller for full functionality - resulting in a total cost of around $120.

"A lot of that will depend on the price point they choose," Tippl said in reference to the potential success of the controllers.

"We have a few franchises where we think this could be an interesting value to improve the experience for the player. Tony Hawk is an example. We have our Rapala Fishing franchise. But it's not going to be something that will be in every game, because I don't think it's one size fits all. It's not going to enhance the experience for every game," he added.

Activision has historically been very wary of supporting first party motion controllers, with almost no major titles aimed at the market-leading Wii.

Instead the publisher has concentrated on creating its own bespoke, and often expensive, controllers for games such as Guitar Hero, DJ Hero and Tony Hawk: Ride.

Having taken the role of COO in March, Tippl has been particularly prominent in the wake of E3, yesterday admitting that Activision's reputation with core gamers had become tarnished and that greater efforts would be made to engage with such fans.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...inect-and-move