Interview: Sony's Scott Rohde Talks PlayStation Move

After the PlayStation Move press conference, I sat down with Sony Worldwide Studios VP Scott Rohde to talk about his company's game development philosophy, the unsung features of Sony's new technology, and the arduous task of turning cynical hardcore gamers onto motion controls.

When Sony launched the PlayStation 3, the company got a lot of flack for not coming out with the big guns like God of War, a true Gran Turismo, or a SOCOM game. Instead you chose to develop new IPs like Resistance, Infamous, and LittleBigPlanet. As we're moving through this console generation we're seeing a lot games that publishers keep pushing –  like Tony Hawk or Guitar Hero – suffering from over-saturation. Was it a conscious decision by Sony to put some of its brands on the back burner to give them breathing room so they don't lose their cachet?

Good question, that's one of the best, unique questions I've heard all day. It's something that we're actually really proud of at Worldwide Studios. There's an element of truth to what you said about building new IP because it does keep some of our existing properties fresh. It's also because we think we have a lot of great, creative teams. Sony has a heritage of introducing new IP all the time, and I think it gets people excited. If a game gets too stale, then it's going to go away. But it also lets us build up excitement for stuff like what's going on next door [the God of War III launch event]. When God of War III comes out it's a big, big deal.

Let's jump to the topic on everybody's mind – the PlayStation Move. Reading forums and interacting with our readers, there seems to be an underlying sense of apathy about motion controls. What would you point to as a shining example how the Move may change the core gamer's preconceived notions?

I think that the game we're looking at across the street here – SOCOM 4 – the approach that we've taken with that game is that for those hardcore, skeptical, bitter gamers who say “ah, I've seen this already,” they can play this game the way they've always played it, on the DualShock. But on that same disc you're going to get a new control scheme. It's going to allow those people to try it and see if they like it better, and I'm convinced that some percentage of those hardcore gamers may actually like this controller better. You're also going to get a group of new people who perhaps were intimidated by the DualShock. So I think we have the best of both worlds there.

We've seen a lot of news about older titles like LittleBigPlanet and Heavy Rain adopting this technology as well. This this going to be handled via patch, a DLC add-on, or perhaps a new retail product?

It's something we haven't announced yet, but our teams are definitely looking at titles to see if anything makes sense. But in general, it's more of a forward-looking technology for us to enhance games that are coming out in the future.

One of the things I'm curious about is how the changing colors on the controllers. How does that work?

You're the first person who's asked me that and that's my favorite feature of the device. There's a bit of magic that's involved with the color. The developer has control over the what and when of the color experience. In addition to just “hey, I've got four people in the room, I need a blue, yellow, green, and red,” it can change. You can come up with game concepts where perhaps four people are standing there with the controller and they all shuffle and land on the color, and you have to react to what's on the screen based on what color lands on you. Or if you're playing a game that gives you the ability to cast spells, before you do so it could flash blue if you're going to cast an ice spell, it could flash red if you're going to case a fire spell. There's a lot of unique opportunities with that color sphere and people are just scratching the surface. Any game where it's being used as a shooting device, it makes sense for it to flash like a muzzle – orange, yellow, red – every time. Not every game is going to do that, but it's out there.

During the presentation you announced that there are three ways people can get the controller – standalone, in a bundle with the PlayStation Eye and a game, and packaged with a console. You're also trying to appeal to a very wide spectrum of gamer. Are there going to be different bundles that, say, target the family oriented consumer with a game like Move Party with one SKU, and target the hardcore gamer with something like SOCOM 4 in another?

To be determined, but you know how marketing folks work. I'm the product development guy, so I don't make those decisions, but those are all conversations in process. I'm sure there's going to be a wide variety, and closer to launch a lot of that detail will be shared.

With a few notable exceptions, third parties have had a hard time gaining mindshare on the Wii. Are you at all concerned that publishers might try to port over a bunch of Wii games to the Move to try and recoup their investments, or do you have some quality control in place?

We're going to have some quality control, yeah. We don't want a bunch of older games ported at launch. But we don't worry about it because there's been so much great engagement from the third parties when we bring this technology to them. We showed them demos of the Sports Champion game several months ago, and they were very excited about the technology. They like the fact that there's a tangible object in your hand and you're pushing buttons. They see all the possibilities of how to integrate them into existing games, which I think is a big win for us, and they're also excited about new games that they're going to bring to market.

The presentation also debuted the subcontroller, which will be required for more complex games like SOCOM 4. Is this going to be included in the bundles, or will it sell as a standalone product?

Every time you say bundle, I'll answer with TBD. [Laughs.] It's all a work in progress. What Peter [Dille] mentioned on stage was an Eye, a Move, and a game selling for under $100. That will probably be the primary motion control bundle, but they're going to do whatever they do over in marketing over the next couple months to figure out the rest.

What would you say to a person who thinks motion controlling is certainly an alternative input method, but it's not necessarily a better option?

It's an interesting question. I think that to those people I would say “I want you to try some of these hands on games. I think it's arguable whether or not you could play SOCOM better with the DualShock or the motion controller – that's why both are in there. But when you experience the table tennis game, for example, you could press a button to ht the ping pong ball back and forth or you could really get into it with the top spin and the backspin. I think in certain cases it's definitely a better experience. We want to continue to experiment with all sorts of different genres and games and find out where we can push the bar a little bit.

In December news leaked about a patent Sony filed for a motion controller attachments that could let developers say, combine two wands, to create new gameplay experiences. Is this an idea you are pursing at the moment?

Let's just say that the way we designed the controllers, we left that door open.

One of the coolest things I saw today was the way Move Party implements augmented reality. How much are you going to push those types of experiences in the launch titles?

We haven't announced our full launch lineup yet, but the one that we showed today is a great example. I think that we have the advantage of running a studio that has a ton of experience with that in the EyeToy, and they have a lot of great ideas on how to incorporate that kind of thing.

Along with the Move, the PlayStation Network is a big part of Sony's push in 2010. Are you encouraging publishers to create Move-friendly games for that service as well as the more traditional retail releases?

Good question. Remember that, again, the PlayStation Network is an integral part of everything we do. It's a distribution method, it's a way to get new content to people quicker, and it's a way to add on to older games.  So the short answer to that is yes. The PlayStation Network will be intimately involved with everything we do.

Be sure to check out the GDC 2010 hub page for quick access to more news and hands-on impressions from the event.