Activision taking a wait-and-see approach to Kinect / Move, 'concerned' about high prices
By Donald Melanson 
posted June 24th 2010 3:19PM
posted June 24th 2010 3:19PM
To hear Microsoft and Sony tell it, you'd think that there's no question that Kinect and Playstation Move will each become as integral to their respective consoles as a regular controller is. But not every game publisher is hopping on board just yet, and Activision is now publicly voicing some skepticism about the motion controllers. Speaking to Gamasutra last week, Activision COO Thomas Tippl said that he is "absolutely" concerned about what he considers high price points for the devices, and as a result he says that Activision will "have to see how much of an install base they're going to develop." Tippl further goes on to say that Activision has "few franchises where we think this could be an interesting value to improve the experience for the player," and that he doesn't see it as "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 does ultimately leave it in the hands of consumers, however, so if Kinect sells, we could well finally get a proper Air Guitar Hero game.
Yeah, I'm not going to buy either devices until I see great titles.
@Revolutionary Thats tue, if the kinect will only get Wii type games then I won't buy it. It be pretty hard not to make to make something like mass effect or assassins creed work with the kinect, I hope I'm wrong though.
@Revolutionary
You will see them. The simple fact is that millions of these consoles are already in people's homes and as long as MS and Sony push these as "the next big thing" for their consoles, they will sell.
@Revolutionary
I don't need to see the titles, I'm more interested in the way Kinect is being integrated into the OS. That alone has me sold on it.
I'd much rather see this sell around $80, but this IS Microsoft we're talking about.
@tobsmonster2 Not really. I mean, these have been hyped to the point to where they might succeed to some degree. But you realize the track record for after launch peripherals actually catching on is near zero, right? Nintendo and Sega will be more than happy to tell you all about it.
@tobsmonster2 Kinect not so much, many people have the arcade. It would be hard to try and convince them to spend 1/2-3/4 of that money again.
That guy in the picture looks like someone from Dumb and Dumber.
But he has a point. I was surprised at the prices. Kinect seems like a cool addition to the machine but they should really have priced it around $50 and subsidized the cost by higher game prices or higher costs on other features like XBox Live.
Even if it becomes popular eventually, it will be a slow rollout. Kinect + 2-3 cheesy family games = brand new XBox slim or PS3.
@Revolutionary and it should be an option not a standard to use kinect / move we see how the six axis turns out no 1 uses that shit
@Revolutionary See, that's the thing, it's like a chicken-egg where both the chicken and the egg say "I shouldn't come first". Activision can make more people adopt this and their delay will make it less likely to succeed. MS should hand out some money for best sellers, or see how consumers pick up the device and go for a quick and decisive price cut if it isn't moving.
The company that sells Guitar Hero is concerned about high-priced peripherals? If I could convey my laughter on the internet, it would break the boundaries of this post.
@Colours
My thoughts exactly. This coming from the company that asks us to drop $100+ on a miniature plastic guitar once every 18 months...
@Colours
What he really meant was....
"We could see the potential for Kinect/Move if it was a peripheral that we had designed ourselves. We will continue to work on developing accessories based on these so that we can make more profit from them in our own games."
@Colours
i was thinking the same thing just now
@Drummrgy Soo true.
Activision? Concerned about costs? Bullshit.
Oh, the irony.
Air Drum hero first i'd wager.
So they are ok with selling me new plastic musical instruments with every new guitar hero and plastic skateboards with tony hawk games and modern warfare branded controllers but kinect seems to expensive?
@zkolev
Truth goggles: "We are concerned that no one will buy our plastic toys if they can use Kinect for everything."
He should be "concerned" about that girly-man hair. :)
@One Love makes him look "extra douschy" some one spell check me.
I usually spell it "douchey"
these bastards are actually talking about prices. £15 for just two maps with the others from a previous game. really annoyed
@kreatos
Exactly my thought
I will get kinect. I think it will be better than anything Wii. I think if Microsoft does it right, it could be motion controls for the hardcore gamer.
Of all the companys to say that...
For some reason he reminds me of a younger Kevin Spacey...
Now that I've been staring at it for a few, I think it's either the mouth or the expression.
@RayVoid
http://www.morphthing.com/image/27423974-activision-thomas-tippl-06-24-2010-jpg-Kevin-Spacey?key=b6b96c8b3099d1c82cd5b3af8a77a232
I've taken the same approach to your overprice plastic gimmick games and your DLC.
Call it a stalemate.
Wait. 15$ bucks for afew maps and their concerned about prices. Not to mention keeping promised bonuses from infinityward devs
how about that company get off their lazy greedy asses and create a game that can fully take advantage of it. With all of activisions money they could make a pretty badass move /kinect game that we all would buy the peripheral for.
HAHAHA... Activision concerned about high prices.. that's a good one, what a knee slapper.
And without good games to play using either gadget what are the odds a robust base will develop? Doh!
Yeah Activision, who's going to pay a bunch of money for a plastic accessory that can only be used with a few games...
OH WAIT..................
This is rich.
Activision hates it be because you are the peripheral, not some lame-ass piece of plastic they can charge an arm and leg for. Wipes out their accessory business.
I guess that means we will not be seeing Pitfall Kinect any time soon. I can live it...
to their defense, i mean why would you want to play guitar hero without a guitar? i mean doesn't seem to make any sense. its like trying to write on a piece of paper without lines, your not going to be writing straight unless you have practiced that.
"we can't support this, because if we do, we won't make 100$ on Air guitar hero"
hahahaha activision is concerned about high prices. thats really funny.
lol yea right bobby cock dick will jump over anything to make a profit and will make so many copies of the same game it doesnt matter
Ironic coming from the people who release a new 150 dollar rock band game every 6 months.
@Prevacator
I assume you mean "rock band" (in the generic sense) and not "Rock Band" (as in the IP). to be fair, Guitar Hero is exploitative (see 2008, and at least Rock Band creates quality work (arguable) over a decent period of time(also arguable).
The announcement of the price instantly decided for me whether I would bother purchasing a Kinect or not. I would be willing to spend 80 to 100, with that being my absolute max. Anymore is useless, I'm better off waiting for a new game system down the road rather then spending so much money on untested/untried gaming peripherals.
Sounds like everyone was thinking the same thing as I was. :)
Whats that Activision? 1st party periphrials got you tounge?
I think it would be more accurate to say:
"Activision taking a wait-and-see approach to 'Kinect/Move', concerned they won't be able to sky jack their prices. Also worried people might expect fresh content for games and not just the same old stuff repackaged with a new skin."
FableIII will be compatible with Kinect
Jim Henson had a 'wait-and-see' attitude, and look what happened to him. Now we’ve got wrong-sounding Muppets!