3D gaming hasn’t exactly taken off like many console makers and game devs hoped it would.
There are obviously a number of reasons for the lack of industry enthusiasm surrounding the format, but the high-cost of 3D TVs and expensive active glasses are likely respsonsible for the bulk of it. Recently, SCE UK boss Fergal Gara weighed in on the issue, telling Eurogamer that consumers have decided 3D isn’t hugely important.
“Consumers decide how relevant it [3D] is,” explained Gara. “It’s fair to say consumers have decided it’s not hugely important at this time.”
However, Gara was quick to point out that Sony was retaining its 3D capabilities – at least for now.
“It’s a capability we’ve got. It may have a bigger life a little further down the line. It’s great we can do it,” he said.
“It doesn’t seem to be the most powerful USP at the moment, so you’ve seen us shift our effort onto fresh new exciting IP. I’m certainly really pleased to see the strength of that as we look into next year. We’ve seen a resurgence really with the strength of the output from the studio network.”
Sony’s statement heralds a marked change from all the time it spent marketing 3D, pushing the rapidly evolving standard to be the next big thing in gaming. Remember, Sony’s PS3 has 3D capability, and a few titles support 3D play – assuming the gamer has a compatible TV or projector. As you may recall, (then) Sony CEO Sir Howard Stringer said in 2009 that 3D TVs would be in every home by the end of 2010. Well, here we are at the end of 2012, and such a prediction is clearly very far from reality.
