Wow, what a difference a year makes.
Last year at CES, Samsung debuted its first 3D gaming monitor as a prototype. It worked, completely glasses-free, and it certainly impressed me at the time. But it was far from perfect, and you could tell it was still early in development.
But this year, it’s becoming a real product, and I tried out this new version at CES 2025. The hardware hasn’t changed, but the optimization on the software front represents a huge step forward from where it was last year. I played a preview of the upcoming game The First Berserker, which look absolutely stellar. One second, snow was falling from above, scattered around my view of the characters — and the next, sparks were flying toward my eyes from an attack by a nearby enemy. That description sound cliché, but words fails with this type of thing. It needs to be experienced firsthand to be appreciated.
The major improvement this year has to with the “sweet spot.” In fact, the idea of there being a “sweet spot” for the 3D effect to work has basically been thrown out. That’s something Acer SpatialLabs monitors still struggle with, which I was reminded of earlier today when I took another look at the current SpatialLabs 27 gaming monitor at Acer’s product demonstration.
But with the Odyssey 3D, it was all quite seamless. I tried moving my head left to right, scooting forward and backward in the chair, and even sitting up higher versus moving my head down. And still, that immersive 3D effect stayed intact. That means you can sit comfortably — or not worry about your positioning at all — and still enjoy the 3D effect. It didn’t make me dizzy, either — it just added an enhanced sense of closeness to the game world completely free of glasses or headsets.
It may never be one of the best gaming monitors that everyone will own in even a few years, but the quality of the demo at least convinced me that 3D monitors could grow into more than just a gimmick or impressive product demo.
There’s one problem, though. While The First Berserker demo looked fantastic, it’s only one game. And right now, it’s the only confirmed game to launch on the product when it releases sometime in the second quarter of 2025. Yes, it has the ability to convert 2D content to 3D, but right now, it only works on full-screen videos in a web browser. For The First Berserker, Samsung had to work directly with the developers of the game to really optimize it for the Odyssey 3D. As we all know, anything that demands extra time from game development teams can be difficult.
Meanwhile, Samsung’s primary competitor in 3D gaming monitors, Acer, has been building out an ecosystem of supported games for years now. There are hundreds of titles to try out in 3D at this point, which now even include DirectX12 games. None of them might look as immersive as The First Berserker on the Odyssey 3D, but the vast library of supported games is impressive. Clearly, Acer’s approach to partnering with developers through its efforts with SpatialLabs is working — but it’s taken years to get to this point.
After speaking with Samsung representatives, however, I got some more details on the company’s approach to getting more supported content for the monitor. First of all, I was told that over 10 titles will be supported by the time of launch — and that includes Lies of P. That’s not a bad start, and if some momentum builds, that could rapidly expand by the end of the year. But if you’re buying this monitor on day one — for what I assume is a lot of money — that might be fairly disappointing.
Without the ability to rapidly bring titles over, the Odyssey 3D monitor could be doomed to fail. Samsung told me that it’s exploring the ability to convert 2D games directly to 3D without the input of a developer, though it’s not currently promising such a feature. That was good to hear. That kind of content would likely never look as good as my demo appeared, but it’s what may be needed if Samsung hopes to create any momentum with the Odyssey 3D.
After all, the idea of game development teams working up implementations for specific monitors feels like a tough sell. That’ll only get more difficult if (and when) other manufacturers throw their hats in the ring. Samsung likely has more sway in the industry than Acer, but developers are always going to want to know how that development time actually helps the success of the game. As with all new things, it’s a problem of the what comes first — the chicken or the egg?
If Samsung can build enough support behind the Odyssey 3D by the time the release date rolls around, I think it has the potential to really become an exciting development in the world of PC gaming and monitors. But with only one official game suppported so far, there’s definitely a long road ahead.
