Rare Breeds

Studio head Scott Henson on Kinect, Avatars and the future of motion sports

Feature by Dan Pearson Contributor

Published on April 12, 2011

GamesIndustry.bizAre there any plans to pursue any of the old IP in the way that you did with Perfect Dark recently?

Scott Henson

Our plans are exploring the way people play. If the IP Rare has apply to that, then certainly we will look at that. Ultimately, we are focused on innovation in the way people play. The great thing about having been in the industry 25 years and having sold about 100 million plus units, or whatever, and having had these great successes is that we have a great canvas both in the studio and outside of the studio in which to work.

GamesIndustry.bizI saw recently that there was some data that had been collected from Kinect performance that has already managed to improve algorithms and cut down on the lag on the machine. Alex Kipman has said that he would welcome that - you need people who would be out there toying around with the insides, feeding that information back into development. How much more do you think is left in the hardware?

Scott HensonI think it's unlimited. I think you're just starting to see the very beginning of it. For a good part of my career in Xbox, I've been partnered with the development and publisher community. The thing that constantly amazes me is how creative that the community is. How people continue to surprise and delight, in ways that you never imagined. It's exciting to see the enthusiasm that people are having, around what you are talking about right now. We are going to hold to that. You are going to see some brand new experiences as a results.

GamesIndustry.bizYou've just released the Kinect software development kit for PC's. It can loosely be termed as a hacking element to the hardware and that's something you seem to embrace quite strongly with Kinect. That's a very different route than other platform holders with their hardware - they tend to be quite protective. Is that something that you see as a valuable avenue of research? Having people out there messing around with this stuff, and seeing what it can do?

Scott Henson

First of all, I don't see the hacking. I see it as a development in possibilities, and in innovation and exploration, right? What you are seeing from us is us embracing that concept and trying to help harness it and accelerate it. Again, this has been a key part of what I've done over the years. For me personally, this is something very exciting to see. As someone that runs a studio, and someone who cares deeply about the industry, helping enable that innovation is fundamentally what will help fuel the industry and the overall ecosystem. So I think it's a great thing.

GamesIndustry.bizThere's been a relatively sparse release schedule for Kinect games since the launch. Presumably, there's other stuff that you're aware of that's going on behind the scenes that's going to start filling that pipeline over the next year or so?

Scott Henson

Well, I obviously I don't have a complete view across the entire industry. This is why trade shows like E3 are a great thing, a good checkpoint for us, to go explore your question. In first party, you will see us continue to innovate and push, not just with Kinect but in general, on all the platform areas that we have on the Xbox 360 and Xbox Live. What I would say is that we were very pleased, in general, with the launch portfolio and had tremendous support across the industry. And I am bullish that you are going to see a lot more in the months to come.

GamesIndustry.bizThere was something of a mixed message, perhaps, at the beginning of Kinect's career. People were saying that there would be core games coming - is that something that Rare would be involved in, that core title development? Or do you think it would be more along the lines of the Kinect Sports packages, the more family friendly stuff that you've been pursuing?

Scott Henson

How I would characterise it for us... We are motivated to create experiences that appeal to everyone, whatever their motivation. If they want something that is more of an individual expression like getting up off the couch and diving in, if they want to invite friends and family, we want to make something that is literally for everyone. What I think you'll see, like you saw with Xbox Live, and what you see with Xbox 360, is you're going to see a whole suite that will be used for the entire industry. I think there will be something for everyone, and no matter what their motivation is.

GamesIndustry.bizGiven your knowledge of the way Live has been planned out you must be very aware of what the mission statement was with Live at the beginning. How has that evolved since?

Scott Henson

The number one tenet of Live, and in general, is that it would just be this ever evolving, always-on service, right? I think what you've seen over the last; gosh how long has it been in the market? Almost eight and a half, nine years now; is a constant, a relentless sense of progression and innovation, through Xbox Live. I would expect that you'll continue to see that mantra that we've had from the very beginning. That through the power of software services, we are going to continue to excite and delight people with Xbox Live.

Scott Henson is studio manager at Rare. Interview by Dan Pearson.

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