Nintendo admit that ‘interest in 3D is on the wane’

Do you own a 3D television? Do you find that it transforms your movie experience? If so, it would appear that you are one of the minority. Studios and production companies had hoped that 3D would have shaken the market by now, but sales figures indicate that not many of us want to deal with wearing the necessary glasses.

I feel this is a primary issue with 3D adoption, the need to wear the specialised glasses to enjoy the experience. If like me, you already wear a set of glasses, then putting another pair over the front of your prescription glasses is far from ideal. Until we can get a great 3D experience without the need for these glasses then the public will have a problem adopting the new technology.

That said, you don't need the 3D glasses with the Nintendo consoles, and sales are not proving groundbreaking for the company.

Nintendo chief Satoru Iwata, spoke with the Independent and he said that the interest in 3D is “perhaps slightly on the wane again.” It won't stop Nintendo adopting the technology in the devices, but it will no longer be a major selling point.

He added “So, now we've created the 3DS and 3DS XL and also have some games out there that are really using that 3-D effect that we can see, from my point of view, that it's an important element. But as human beings are this kind of surprise effect wears off quickly, and just [having] this 3-D stereoscopic effect isn't going to keep people excited.”

3D movie sales are not inspiring either. 3D attendance for the opening weekend of Pixar's Brave was unremarkable. Only 32% of revenues came from the 3D version, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Avatar 3D was a big seller in 2009, with almost 83% of the public watching the 3D version.

3D televisions are selling well, with a current rise in America, however only 14% of consumers who are buying a new television said that 3D is a ‘must have' option. 3D is included now on almost every modern television set, so the sales figures could be more related to a general sale of the product, rather than just the 3D feature itself.

Time.com even published an article recently called ‘The 3-D hype bubble Is now completely busted.”

Kitguru says: So the big question, whats next?

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