Sony on why 3DS has struggled

It’s a weird world we live in where a person has to explicitly say they’re not commenting on a rival’s device before they’re able to comment on a rival’s device.

Nonetheless, SCEE’s senior studio director Mick Hocking did exactly that when asked about the early struggles of the 3DS.

So I wouldn’t comment directly on 3DS,” he told GameSpot before continuing to do so. But I think what we’ve seen over the last 12 months is a strong correlation between good-quality 3D content and great response from our fan base.

The opposite is also true. When people see 3D that doesn’t work very well, or content that isn’t very compelling, I think quite naturally they’re not as interested in it.”

Indeed, Hocking argues that 3D and portable gaming simply aren’t good bedfellows – hence the decision not to include the tech in PlayStation Vita.

At the time we were looking at Vita, there were several issues. One was the quality of the glasses-free 3D screens,” he added. It can work very well on small screens, but to get the best effect, you need to keep your head very, very still.

Now with a handheld gaming device and Vita having Sixaxis motion control in it, there may be gameplay where you’re moving the Vita around. And if you’re doing that and having glasses-free 3D, the two things don’t sit very well together. We wanted to offer a really, really high-resolution OLED screen, and the best way to do that was in 2D. At least for the first one.”