Bach: 70-80% of publishers working on Natal-based games

In an interview with Financial Post, Microsoft president of entertainment and devices Robbie Bach said "something like 70% or 80% of the publishers in the world" are already working on Natal-based games. The interview followed Microsoft's CES 2010 keynote during which Bach announced the hands-free controller for the Xbox 360 would launch during the 2010 holiday season. Bach also respectfully outlined what he believes is the major difference between Microsoft and Nintendo's respective business models: third-party success. "Our model is certainly about third-party publishers making money. We design our system for third-party publishers," he told the Canadian news outlet. "[Nintendo makes] most of their money through first-party games that Nintendo produces. That's absolutely their business model. And it's a great business model, it's just different, but it makes it hard for third-party publishers."

As for upcoming Natal-based games, Bach said Microsoft's first-party developers are focused on the hardware to help lead other developers down an "innovative" path. "We want to have a few titles from Microsoft that show the way and then we want the breadth and power of the ecosystem from our partners to bring lots of new ideas, new innovations, new concepts to the marketplace."

Microsoft's Project Natal appears to be a direct response to a mainstream audience that has turned to Nintendo's hardware when spending disposable income. Considering the Xbox 360 and PS3 have effectively cracked the third-party code, Microsoft's focus continues to be set on capturing a demographic that may feel intimidated by the hardware and its core (read: jerkface) players.