Christoph Hartmann, president of 2K Games, has said that Sony and Microsoft are using their respective motion-sensing peripherals as a means of testing the waters ahead of the next console generation.
Speaking to MCV, Hartmann described Kinect and PlayStation Move as “experiments,” and insisted that platform holders are not avoiding making new hardware.
"I don’t think they are avoiding doing another machine but testing the water," he commented. "Rather than coming out and saying ‘this is our console now,’ I think they are playing around and seeing what they can do.”
"These guys know how to manufacture the chips or push the memory, the kind of thing you usually get with each new console generation. But now everyone is looking for innovation and at online components, so they are experimenting.”
Hartmann dismissed the notion that Sony and Microsoft’s foray into motion controls is merely a case of ‘jumping on the Wii wagon,’ but rather trying to take the idea of motion gaming to the next step.
"It’s not been a case of just jumping on the Wii wagon – it’s been a case of learning about what Wii did and trying to take it somewhere,” he offered.
"When Microsoft made the Xbox, I assume there were always plans for Xbox 360. It was just the first Xbox was the machine to get it there. Microsoft was new to the party, so they used Xbox 1 to test the water. It’s the same principle."