Did you ever want to smell the rotten fungus in The Last of Us? With Sony, this wish might come true soon.
Did you ever play The Last of Us and thought: "Yeah, but what about the smell of us?!" – no worries, Sony got your back and wants to implement odor in games.
While games are at an all-time high when it comes to graphics and storytelling, developers start to focus more and more on making their games even more immersive – and it seems like Sony sees a lot of potential in... well, smells.
Making Games Too Immersive?
In the last few years, virtual reality began to be a more and more important part of video game development, with Sony pushing the technology further with new projects. Even though games like Alien: Rogue Invasion and Hitman World of Assassination had their flaws, they led to the PlayStation VR 2 having its best-selling quarter since launch.
But with every step towards an immersive gaming future, we also come closer to the point when innovation goes too far – and for some fans, one of Sony’s new ideas could mark that point.
During CES 2025, Sony revealed concepts for a technology allowing players to smell in-game surroundings and the reactions are a bit mixed.
Not Every Player Wants To Sniff Their Game
To show off this new technology the CES 2025 press conference allowed playtesters to put their nose into a version of The Last Of Us in which they could smell the rotten fungus around them. With this and other games in mind, fans have strong opinions about it.
A fan responded “I think I speak for everyone when I say nobody asked for this” while another one added that they couldn’t think of a single game that would be enhanced by being “smellable”.
Others seemed to be interested in the concept, talking about the wish to smell the forest in Red Dead Redemption 2, saying: “It’s a very good idea and a nice beginning for higher immersion games in the future”.
So far, Sony did not reveal how far the concept is and if there are any time windows or even plans to implement this technology soon, but it’s more than likely that it might take a while until it will be realized. Until that: Rotten fungus of The Last of Us? We will smell you (maybe) later!
What do you think about this new technology? What games could be enhanced by adding smell to it?
