"When we started making games for Kinect there was a big focus on always using the hardware," he says. "But now it's in the box, we can use it when it makes sense and not when it doesn't."
A key example of this is in navigating the game's front-end. Rather than using a menu screen, the user-interface is a living, interactive depiction of the Kinect Sports island, where users can see all the events, who is playing them, and the best scores of their friends. It's neat, but the best part is, you can just explore the whole thing with a controller. You don't need to stand there and making swiping gestures like some deranged military despot.
"It just makes sense," says Woodroffe. "People want to sit down with a controller and tweak their appearance, change the outfit – you can do it via gesture, but we're not going to force it, it's fine to use the controller. That's quite a big step forward, policy-wise. It's definitely a good thing. We'll drop motion controls where it makes sense."
Indeed, in the game itself, it seems players can opt to use the Xbox One controller instead of movement for most inputs. The challenge for the team this time has been ensuring that Kinect remains a truly useful interface – the one most players will naturally prefer. "We test all of the games with a controller and if we can't do just as well with motion controls, we're not happy," assures Woodroffe.