"Can’t wait to fart down the mic" — Gamers react to PlayStation adding smells to its games

On January 8, 2025, NME reported that Sony unveiled a new gaming system at CES 2025, introducing the Future Immersive Entertainment Concept. This system enhances gameplay by incorporating scents and immersive audio.

A demo featured players experiencing The Last of Us with realistic smells and sounds, providing a more engaging gaming environment inside a box with video screens on every wall. Sony's Future Immersive Entertainment Concept mentions:

“One of the pillars of Sony’s creative entertainment vision is the idea of narrative everywhere, where stories from Sony are transformed across new and exciting mediums,”

Gamers took to X to express their opinions on the addition of features like smell to PlayStation wherein an X user tweeted:

"I can’t wait to fart down the mic when I’m on Fortnite"

"cod lobbies bout to be everyone farting in the mic 😭😭😭" an X user commented.

"It would be down half the time" another X user mentioned.

"Good to know I am never touching a Walking Dead game if this happens" an internet user stated.

"Not sure I need that. I can just go to California Adventure and ride Soarin’ for that" another internet user said.

Additionally, gamers also expressed excitement over the new PlayStation feature:

"Imagine being able to smell the fresh grass in a soccer game or the salty ocean breeze in a virtual beach setting." an X user tweeted.

"Wow, imagine playing a cooking game and actually smelling the food! I can already see gamers trying to scratch and sniff their screens. The future is going to be a fragrant place!" a netizen commented.

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Sony claims new PlayStation features "fully immerse you into the world of the story"

In the video showcasing the Future Immersive Entertainment Concept, Sony dubbed it a "proof-of-concept project".

The brand's video mentioned that the concept combines the latest Sony Crystal LED panels, location-based technologies, engaging haptics, audio, scent, and atmospheres "to fully immerse you into the world of the story.”

According to a report by GameRant dated August 2023, Sony filed for a patent that could stimulate in-game smells, one that wasn't like the Smell-O-Vision systems used in movies.

While Sony has not offered extensive detail on how it plans to use the smell-feature technology in the future, the video explaining the Future Immersive Entertainment Concept, gave an insight into what people can expect.

The video mentioned that gamers could enter the story directly via content from the PlayStation game The Last Of Us. Sony mentioned that it is combining the elements of story and technology to deliver new experiences to its gamers.

The brand's video currently showcases the availability of the new features limited only to The Last Of Us game wherein PlayStation players can also use a torch to highlight specific areas of the game.

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While in-game smell incorporations haven't been popular and Sony is the latest company to announce the same, in 2013, Microsoft created a smell-emitting controller for the Xbox One.

Additionally, in 2023, the company announced the world's first pizza-scented Xbox controllers to promote the release of the movie Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.