Acclaimed game developer Peter Molyneux is hard at work with his new studio, 22 Cans, developing his next big game. While Molyneux is busy designing a series of interactive experiments, beginning with Curiosity, he has kept abreast of the developing game industry as it branches out to growing platforms like mobile, free-to-play, and social. He's had a chance to check out the Nintendo Wii U, as well as Microsoft's SmartGlass.

Thus far, he has reservations about tablet gaming.

Molyneux talks about the challenges that developers face when trying to create true multi-screen gaming experiences.

IGN: What do you think of the multi-screen experience that’s evolving with tablets and with the new Nintendo Wii U and Microsoft SmartGlass?

Peter Molyneux: The thing about the SmartGlass is that the tablet is a thing that you have with you all the time. Now, in that sense, I understand completely as a consumer and I’m excited to see what these guys do with it. But I do have a problem with it. I now have a screen in front of me on my lap and a screen up on the wall that I’m looking at. Which one should I be looking at? Should I be looking up at the big screen and down, or at my lap and up? Should I be checking down on my lap every few seconds?  What’s going to incentivize me to move my eyes from the wall to my lap?

In a way, part of me is excited by this. But part of me is worried that this is a bit of tech which us tech boys get really excited about, and until I see some really great uses of that SmartGlass or the Wii U GamePad, the jury is out for me to be honest with you. I can see it if I’m watching a football game that the scores would come up on the SmartGlass. I’m all there for that. I can see if I’m watching a TV episode and it gives me some background on the actors. I’m kind of there, but I can do that on the internet already. The real use for me is how it’s used as part of the entertainment experience, and then that divided attention that you’re demanding of a player is going to be really challenging to balance well.

IGN: Do you think also it could be a generational thing in the sense that you and I are both older, but there’s a younger generation that does currently watch TV and play on a tablet or a smartphone or a PC all at the same time?

Peter Molyneux: That’s a very interesting point, but I think what people do when they have multiple screens is something very simple. They will listen to the big screen whilst distracting themselves on the small screen. That’s not what SmartGlass and Wii U are talking about.

They’re talking about producing an entertainment experience that you’re engrossed in. So you’re not typing an email while watching TV. You’re playing a game while watching TV on the GamePad and that’s where my problem comes in. I know I need it when I’m watching a football game. I need SmartGlass to do my emails or check Twitter or distract myself, especially when the things are at a low point in the plot. But that’s not what SmartGlass or the Wii U are about.

It’s about giving you a second screen into the same experience, and that’s where I’m a little bit challenged. I agree that the younger generation has the ability to switch very fast between different things, but that’s not what we’re talking about. We’re talking about them being in the same experience. I just think it’s like a lot of tech out there at the moment. There’s a huge amount of tech out there at the moment, including the cloud -- and the cloud has been around for some time -- and it’s not until we get the great applications that actually use that hardware and delight us with those experiences, that we’ve really appreciated its value.

IGN: What are your thoughts on what Nintendo is doing with the Wii U overall?

Peter Molyneux: I struggle to see anything amazing coming out of Nintendo. There are a few, “Oh, that’s smart,” but there’s nothing that makes me rush out as a consumer to buy the new device. I’ll give you a great example of how tech should be used.  It’s what Nintendo did with the Wii when it first came out. They introduced motion control.  They were one of the first companies to introduce motion control and they had a fantastic Wii Sports Game. As soon as I picked up the controller and started waving it around, I got it. I already understood it. But I’m not sure there’s a same sort of application out there for Wii U. I think to myself, “Well, what’s the reason to get it?”  Do you see what I mean?

IGN: I do. I’ve tried out a lot of the launch games and outside of the Nintendo games like NintendoLand and Ubisoft’s Rayman Legends and ZombiU, there’s not a lot of innovations. And I did find it challenging, even while standing at the kiosk, focusing on both screens.

Peter Molyneux: There you go. I had exactly the same experience. I played those games and I thought, “That’s cute.” But the psychology of making a game is hard enough because plasma screens are so big now. It’s hard enough to get the player to move their eyes from the center of the screen to the borders.

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It’s hard enough to get the player to move their eyes from the center of the screen to the borders.

When you’re designing a game for a plasma screen you’ve got to really flash the corners of the screen. You’ve got to get movement in, otherwise people don’t notice anything in the corners. Getting people to move their eyes from the screen down to their laps is incredibly hard. There has to be some huge motivational thing like the words coming up, “Look at your GamePad now.” If you’re going to do that, from a design perspective that sounds a bit clumsy and complex.

IGN: As we look at the upcoming launches of three new consoles, what role do you see them playing in this evolving gaming ecosystem?

Peter Molyneux: Consoles have a very tough time ahead of them. The main issue is that existing console manufacturers are so embedded into the standard retail model in that they spend two years developing a game and then they push it out to retail stores and they’re done. They get a huge amount of money and then they move on to the next sequel that takes another two years. That world is gone forever.

Retail is still an important part of the console business, but a lot of consumers are starting to move to things like the iPad and to digital distribution. People don’t want to go down to a store and buy something that they can buy online just like they don’t want to go down to the store and buy music anymore. The console manufacturers have these two big problems. Their existing business model of development and investing in multiple million dollar development projects and then launching and having this marketing shock and awe campaign. Plus the fact that the technology that’s out there in every consumer’s hands through tablets and phones is now more accessible than ever, and their consoles are stuck in the basement or they’re stuck in the living room. That’s hugely challenging for them.

When you look at the number of units that Apple and Android and Motorola are able to make, the power of tablets and phones are going to exceed the power of consoles very soon now. That’s a problem for console manufacturers because if they’re lucky, over five years they’re going to sell 40 or 50 million devices. And if they’re very, very lucky they’ll eventually -- over a lifetime of consoles -- maybe sell 100 million. That is a drop in the ocean when you compare it to the number of smartphones that are in the market today, and then a tiny drop in the ocean when you compare the number of smartphones that are predicted in the market in the next few years. Just the scaling cost of producing hardware or the penetration of it means that they’ve got a real pricing issue.

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We gamers love our games.

On the plus side, they have a very loyal following. We gamers love our games. We love setting up our gaming locations. We love going into them and inviting our friends.  So they have some loyal fans, but they used to be on the cutting edge of innovation. And they just feel like they’ve fallen back a step now and the people at Apple and Android have taken the crown of innovation from them.

John Gaudiosi is a freelance writer that, among other things, travels the world.

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