ARMS: A Potential Motion Controlled eSport

In an interview conducted with Times, ARMS producer, Kosuke Yabuki, and art director, Masaaki Ishikawa, discuss about Nintendo’s upcoming fighting game.

Arms supports pure motion as well as button-driven gamepad controls. If I’m hardcore and want to really throw down, which offers the competitive edge?

Yabuki: It’s a good question. When we really don’t want to lose, we go with motion controls. So on our team, when we just want to throw a game together quick, we’ll sometimes start with the button controls. But when things get serious, we bust out those motion controls, and that’s how we play.

It’s a fascinating claim, because to date, motion controls have existed somewhere around the intersection of novelty and imprecision. It sounds like you’re essentially positioning Arms as the first hardcore motion control game, or maybe even first motion control eSport.

Yabuki: I think that’s a great take, and I actually think Arms might be the first game that has such depth with its technique in its motion controls. I think it would be great if Arms were to become an eSport, but it’s not quite clear yet whether Nintendo will go down that path and become a proper eSport. It’s not a certainty yet that Arms will be a huge hit with people. We’ll see how many people play. But if it does go down that route, we’ll see what Nintendo as a company does with eSports.

Along with the potential to be among Nintendo’s effort to boost their own eSports arsenal, ARMS could potentially come out as pioneer in motion controlled eSports. Though it is hard to envision how such an physically demanding eSport will turn out in the world stage, it is fun to see Nintendo’s take on their colourful new game.

The interview also covered other subtle aspects of the development such as art design and use of data from Nintendo’s other games, such as Breath of the Wild. Read the full interview here by Times.

Also, check out or opinion on the ARMS test-punch.