Sony: 3D uptake will be faster than HD

Consumers will snap up 3DTVs faster than when they upgraded to HD.

That’s the message from SCEE president Andrew House who was responding to questions on when the tipping point will be for 3D in the home.

He says that 2011 will be a major year for 3D games, although he admits the economic climate has made the company cautious.

3D is going to be driven by building an ecosystem that’s based around content, TV penetration, and so on,” House told MCV.

In the UK you are seeing a strong push by broadcasters like Sky, who see enormous potential in 3D. Their track record in driving HD penetration was key.

But it is a technology shift against challenging economic circumstances for a lot of countries in Europe. So that is something that makes us pause a bit.

Rather than saying when the tipping point will be, I do think it will be a faster adoption than the shift from standard to high definition.”

House also feels games have one of the biggest roles to play in driving 3D adoption: I think the benefits of 3D is a lot more tangible in an interactive experience. It is also the one 3D experience that is, to a great degree, not replicable outside of the home.

Our role is to act as a pioneer, as evangelists and to help developers get the right experience with 3D games. We’ve done some great groundwork and I think you’ll see 3D games come to fruition next year.”

Sony is developing a string of big-budget 2011 PS3 games that use 3D, including Killzone 3, Motorstorm Apocalypse and Uncharted 3.

The latter was revealed at the US Spike Video Game Awards last weekend.

To read MCV’s full interview with House, head over to the features section.