Riccitiello: Motion controllers won't replace traditional controllers

EA boss John Riccitiello has said that traditional gaming controllers won't be replaced by the wave of motion controllers that's hit the market in recent years.

He opined that motion controls - such as the Wiimote, Move and Kinect - were limited to certain genres.

"I’ve had a number of people ask me, 'Will gesture-based gaming replace controllers?' I don’t think so," Riccitiello told IG.

"I think that there will be genres where the gesture-based gaming, however delivered, will actually be the superior way to play. Dance games, music games, exercise games. It’s really hard to imagine an exercise game with your thumbs.

"It’s really hard to imagine that I’m going to play a future edition of Medal of Honor, or Call of Duty, or Battlefield, hiding behind my couch, making a gun out of my finger. I’ve tried driving with gesture-based controls; I don’t really like it."

He continued: "My guess is that some genres will be best on Move over Kinect, over controllers; some genres will be best on Kinect over Move and controllers, and some genres will be best on controllers and then there will be some blend where we might deliver sports games, which some might argue are best on a traditional controller but we might ultimately use gesture-based gaming for scrolling through menus at times or picking my team or pick one of those and call plays.

"That’s very possible."

Move launched in September of last year, while Kinect launched in November.

Sony announced at the end of November that Move had shipped 4.1 million units worldwide.

Microsoft confirmed it had sold 2.5 million Kinect units in its first 25 days on sale worldwide.

More up-to-date numbers should be expected at Microsoft's CES keynote tonight.