Ben-DutkaThe cost of entering into the world of 3D from the comfort of your living room is high enough already. No need to add insult to injury, right?
Right around the time we started to receive early details concerning 3D games, EA said we should prepare ourselves for "premium price tags." However, according to what SCEE boss Andrew House told GamesIndustry.biz in a recent interview , Sony hasn't considered jacking the prices on 3D games, and they don't intend to, either. Why? Well, it's simple, really- the cost of 3D development isn't much higher than the regular cost of producing a game. Said House:
"This isn't a really significant investment and probably plays really good dividends in terms of return on investment. Somebody asked how much of a premium are we going to charge on 3D games, and I said 'we haven't considered charging for one.' Because it's not significant enough an investment to really demand that.
I'm a great believer in the brand loyalty and brand differentiation you get out of it more than pays for the investment that goes up front."
That last bit is bound to satisfy fans of the company and it's good to hear that our 3D experiences won't require more cash on the software side of things. Sure, that new 3D-enabled HDTV will cost a pretty penny but if you look closely, those TVs don't really cost any more than regular HDTVs. It's almost as if the addition of that technology costs next to nothing for both game makers and TV manufacturers. The only question remaining is, "how soon will gamers adopt this new technology?"