MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
The UK’s only dedicated 3D channel is to be closed.
Sky 3D was launched back in 2010 ahead of what the entertainment industry was presenting as an expected boom in 3D TV uptake. Now the channel is to be scrapped completely with all remaining 3D content to be shoved onto the broadcaster’s on-demand service.
From the latest 3D movie premieres like Guardians of the Galaxy, X-Men Days of Future Past and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, to the very best in natural history with documentaries like Natural History Museum Alive, it will all be ready and waiting for our customers to view whenever it suits them,” Sky’s TV brand director Luke Bradley-Jones said.
The BBC announced nearly two years ago that it too was abandoning 3D, with the 50th Anniversary Doctor Who special being one of the last shows it produced for the format.
In 2009 former Sony president and CEO Howard Stringer famously predicted that 3D TVs would be in every British home by the end of 2010. The sentiment was echoed by Ubisoft and others, too.
However, it soon became clear that the consumer appetite for the technology did not match the huge marketing spend TV manufacturers had out behind it.
When PS4 and Xbox One arrived without any 3D TV support in 2013, however, it soon became clear that those such as Sony and CryTek who had to varying extents bet on the technology had backed the wrong horse.
Nowadays emerging tech, such as virtual reality, often has to ensure observers that it won’t be the next 3D TV”.
