EA turns its back on 3D gaming

3D is brilliant. That’s what cinemas tell you. That’s what sports broadcasters tell you. That’s what TV manufactures tell you. That’s what Sony tells you. But EA boss John Riccitiello has becomes the first exec to publicly slam the market value of the technology.

"We see really high returns in these markets and very poor returns focusing on 3D, so we are allocating our resources toward new innovations," Riccitiello told stockholders at EA’s annual meeting, as reported by Games Industry.

"Frankly we have not seen a big uptake for 3D gaming. We have not seen a big uptake in 3D TVs in the home, at least not yet. We are not here trying to drive a market. We are here to react to what consumers are looking for."

EA earlier this year released one of the biggest 3D games to date in the form of Crysis 2. The comments will come as a real blow to the likes of Sony, which has invested time and money into promoting 3D console gaming.

Riccitiello went on to in part blame 3D for the struggles being suffered by Nintendo’s 3DS.

"It was perceived to be the next big thing, there were complaints about is causing headaches and nausea and all sorts of things,” he added.

Frankly, it didn’t do that for me, but there were complaints, and it’s not performed as well as they would like."