Ubisoft has boldly predicted that 3D television will be in “everyone’s living room” by the end of 2013.
I’m an “anything can happen” kind of guy so I don’t normally call out predictions for the future as hopelessly stupid, but in this case I’m going to make an exception. Let’s cut to the chase: “We were the first publisher to create a proper 3D game with Avatar last year. Ahead of its time in many ways because the technology was in its infancy and you couldn’t buy 3D TVs at all,” Murray Pannel, Ubisoft’s head of marketing in the U.K., told Eurogamer.
“The truth is I think it is a technology that’s coming. We can’t ignore it,” he continued. “It’ll start slowly this year. But like HDTV I wouldn’t rule out the fact that this will be installed in everyone’s living room in three year’s time, and for us to be in a position to have content that could really look absolutely amazing in 3D.”
Seriously? Murray, do you have any idea how much this stuff costs? A 46-inch Samsung at Best Buy is currently on sale for $2199, with a regular retail of $2799. Do you want a pair of 3D glasses with that, so you can actually watch things in 3D? That’ll be another $200, please. Oh, you have a wife and children? Some friends, too? You’re not going to make them pay for their own glasses, are you? Because that’s 200 bucks each, pal. Hope you’ve finished paying for that LCD flat panel we talked you into last year.
“For the naysayers, if you like, I would say, ‘Just watch this space’, because when you have global corporations like Sony pushing 3D as hard as they possibly can, Sky, equally, showcasing 3D content on TV, I believe it will become a much more important part of consumer electronics than a lot of people believe,” Pannel added.
Sorry, Ubi, but I’m saying “nay” on this one.
