Summary
- PlayStation has been showing off tech that lets you smell its games at CES 2025.
- The immersive experience lets players step inside its games and smells are just one of the ways it aims to up the experience.
- The Last of Us was used to demonstrate what it can do, adding smells and letting players shoot Clickers while surrounding by high definition screens.
There are several reasons people play video games, and right there near the top of that list for many is immersion. The opportunity to deep dive into a virtual world and escape reality. PlayStation continues to work on ways to take that immersion a step further and has showcased one of the ways it is trying to do that. It’s called the Future Immersive Entertainment Concept, and one of the ways it ups your video game immersion is by adding smells.
PlayStation showed off its futuristic tech during CES 2025 this week, an event during which many major companies showcase the hardware and technology they have in the works. Sony’s FIEC isn’t exactly something you’re going to be able to set up and smell at home anytime soon, though. The concept shown at CES was a giant cube made up of high-definition LED screens that allows players to quite literally step inside their favorite games (thanks, IGN).
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The game used to demonstrate exactly what it is the FIEC can do was The Last Of Us with players having the chance to shoot on-screen clickers as they appear around them and yes, experience what the series’ post-apocalyptic world might smell like. While The Last Of Us is one of PlayStation’s biggest properties, I do find it odd that’s the game it went with for this. I’d be far more interested in finding out what Astro Bot‘s Creamy Canyon smells like.
PlayStation Has Been Developing Tech That Lets You Smell Its Games
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Before you go looking up where you need to go to experience this for yourself, the tech showcased at CES this week is just a proof of concept. It’s unclear if PlayStation eventually plans to take this experience on the road, or if this is the next step in what has been a long journey towards players being able to smell games in their own homes.
It has been almost four years since PlayStation filed a patent for smell technology in games, and this is presumably an extension of that which just goes to show how long this project has been in the works. Perhaps by the time we get The Last Of Us Part 3, we’ll be able to smell how sad it is.
There is technically a way you can smell your games right now via a product called the GameScent. Released in 2024, the GameScent tracks what you’re playing, and what’s happening, and releases smells into the room accordingly. Some of the GameScent’s smell options include forest, gunfire, and storm. Blood is among some of the options that have been listed as coming soon since it launched.
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