The race for better immersion has always been one of the constant goals in gaming, and Sony, with its Future Immersive Entertainment Concept, understands this. Instead of focusing more on VR and sight, Sony is experimenting with the sense of smell and other senses. The new Sony gaming tech allows gamers to catch a whiff of what they’re playing, for better or worse.
It just so happens that Sony decided to demonstrate their new gaming tech using The Last of Us— a game whose entire premise revolves around fungal spore zombies. Sony unveiled this impressive new tech at CES 2025 (Consumer Electronics Show) and it involves a giant LED cube or room into which players go.
The walls of this LED room would then act as a giant monitor or screen and the other mechanisms within the room will augment the immersion.
Apart from visual engagement, the LED room will also engage the sense of smell and other senses or stimuli, notably “audio, haptics, scent, and atmospherics”. Of course, the goal is to keep the players even more invested in their gameplay and they’ll also be moving around, aiming with controller guns instead of joysticks. Here’s the entire concept summed up in a video:
Better than VR?
It’s certainly a step above VR, which often excludes the players’ other senses. However, the tech, as mentioned, is still experimental and obviously too unmanageable for regular households. Moreover, scenes tend to be stationary, and control is limited despite the more active action setup.
It’s not clear yet what kind of scents are simulated or how “accurate” they are to their real-world counterparts (if applicable). But seeing as Sony chose The Last of Us as a demo for this tech, they seem confident with how they recreated the musty whiff from the Clickers’ crusty crevices in The Last of Us.
So it’s not like you’re actually breathing in real fungus or anything harmful; it’s just an interpretation of the smell. Think of it like booger or sock-flavored jelly beans.
