Video Game Technology Loser: Gesture Controls
Believe it or not, gesture controls were once shaping up as a defining feature of future video game technology. Yet, fast forward 20 years and many game enthusiasts won’t even have heard of an Xbox Kinect, let alone see one in the wild.
The infamous peripheral device of which Microsoft was once so proud had an initially blistering start to life way back in 2010.
After selling eight million units in its first two months on the market, Kinect had earned a spot in Guinness’s book of records for the fastest-selling consumer technology.
Soon after, though, and Kinect’s momentum slowed considerably. The software simply wasn’t there to make use of it, and developers seemingly weren’t interested in supporting it.
To rescue the situation, Microsoft opted to pair it with Xbox One as a pack-in extra, raising the console’s price to over $100 more expensive than rivals PS4 and Wii U but making it otherwise cheaper than it was to purchase as a standalone.
Unfortunately for Microsoft, it proved a disastrous move, one which contributed to the Xbox One’s poor commercial performance in comparison to its main rival PS4.
Even beyond the irritation of having to pay more for Xbox One as a result of Kinect’s inclusion, the device was loathed largely because it didn’t really add to the “next-generation” console experience.
Users quickly discovered that gesture controls aren’t particularly accurate, convenient, or necessary at all in place of more tactile and simpler conventional controls.
