70 Percent of Natal and Playstation Motion Controller Projects to be New Property

On November 30 in Paris, Ubisoft announced the results of the first half of the fiscal year, reporting a 78 million Euro operating loss, which was in line with estimates. In addition, during a question and answer portion of Ubisoft’s investor conference call, CEO Yves Guillemot highlighted his company’s commitment to developing games for new technologies when he revealed that Ubisoft was planning to produce “around 10 games that will come for Natal during the first six months of the launch of Natal, and we expect between four to five games for the new controller from Sony.”



Furthermore, when asked whether the games for Natal and Sony’s Playstation Motion Controller would be new properties or updates on existing franchises such as Splinter Cell, Guillemot stated that “we can consider that on those games it’s 70 percent new property.”

Both Natal and Sony’s Playstation Motion Controller will use motion-sensing technology to control characters and interact with the game world. Additionally, Microsoft believes Natal will be able to control your television with the simple flick of a wrist or by using spoken commands. Microsoft believes that Natal will revolutionize the industry and will essentially be next-gen, as indicated by Microsoft Game Studios CEO Phil Spencer’s statement that “When Natal comes out it will feel like a new generation has arrived.”

While less is known about Sony’s Playstation Motion Controller, it can be expected that the two console producers will soon be fighting for control of a developing market for motion-controlled gaming. Ubisoft, while announcing losses today, clearly is expectant of the potential of Natal and the Playstation Motion Controller to grow their company and to grow the industry. Likewise, it is expected that their statement will lead to more announcements from game studios regarding similar motion-controlled games under development in the near future.

Sources: Ubisoft Press Release, MCV