Sony working on adding 'real smells' to games and everyone is making the same joke

Reports of Sony working on tech that adds 'real smells' to your games has plenty of gamers intrigued, as the prospect for many sounds like a both disgusting and fascinating added level of realism.

Games are always pushing the limits of technology, whether that's increasing framerates to make things feel smoother, enhancing resolution to make things look more lifelike, or even embarking into the world of virtual reality to throw you straight into the action first hand.

While many of the senses play a key part in the feeling of immersion, little has smell been considered by developers - but that all might be changing following a showcase from Sony at CES 2025.

As reported by Dexerto, PlayStation revealed conceptual technology that would allow you to immerse yourself in the smells of your in-game surroundings, letting you feel like you're really there with the characters on a level that has never been seen before.

The game in question that was used to show this off was The Last of Us, and if you've somehow not played the post-apocalyptic zombie title then I'll let you in on a little secret - it probably won't smell too great.

Rotten fungus, decaying flesh, and all of the unpleasantries of a world that is well past its sell by date, but there's certainly an argument to be made that exposing players to those smells will only enhance the feeling of desperation as they become desperate to survive and escape.

Some on X have shared the sentiment too, with one user declaring that they "can't even imagine what The Last of Us would smell like (vomit emoji)," whereas another adds in reference to the similarly undead-filled Resident Evil: "There's no way I'm letting my console make me smell zombie rot in my living room."

One user has even gone as far to claim that they "can't think of a single game that will enhance my experience by smelling it," but Grand Theft Auto fans seem to be particularly attached to the idea.

Plenty have made reference to the smell of strip clubs in the upcoming release of GTA 6, with others pointing out that the smell of Trevor - one of the three main characters of GTA 5 - wouldn't exactly give off the most pleasant of aromas when switching over to his story.

"How would this even work?" one user questions, with another adding that "this seems impossible," but it's doubtful that the tech - at least in its current form - would be able to replicate the smells of every single thing on screen in real time.

It's likely just for select games and for an overall sense of the world, and something like the aforementioned The Last of Us is perfect for showing this off.

Who knows where the tech will take us in the years to come though, and we could soon see entire smell landscapes created for our favorite games. Not sure how popular that would end up being for most games though.