BioWare: PlayStation Move and Kinect May Be Too Expensive

Many developers seem to be concerned about the pricing of the PlayStation Move and Kinect. After Activision's comments last week, BioWare's Greg Zeschuk also said that he was worried about Microsoft and Sony's motion controllers being overpriced. The rate of adoption for these products must be high among consumers or the investments needed for the development of interactive software for them will not be justified, according to BioWare's co-founder.

“With regard to all these things, I worry about price points,” Zeshuck told Eurogamer. “Ray [Muzyka, BioWare co-founder] and I work on both the development and the business side, so we're excited from a game design perspective but we also look at the practical reality of making these technologies successful. If the price is too high, they won't take off. […] Our games are expansive, and they're expensive. They're complicated. We want to see how things are shaping up before we commit.”

However, Zeshuk also said that these technologies were really opening up new and interesting ideas and possibilities. Regarding Kinect, he saw a way to enhance the interaction with characters in titles like Mass Effect, even if motion control would not be useful for the game's action moments. “Not so much the motion controller options, but let's say something to do with digital acting. So I play the shooter part of Mass Effect with a controller, then I have to do a dialogue with my hands,” were his exact words on the subject.

Kinect's price point was not revealed by Microsoft at this edition of the Electronic Entertainment Expo that took place a few days ago in Los Angeles, but many retailers suggested it was going out for 150 dollars. PlayStation Move will be available for 50 dollars at the end of September, with the navigation controller being priced at 30 dollars. The gimmick will also require the PlayStation Eye camera that costs 40 dollars on its own, or it can be purchased in a PlayStation Move bundle that goes for 100 dollars with a Move wand controller and a copy of Sports Champions.