Nintendo Exec Says Current State of VR Is Not Fun

Virtual and augmented reality has been a major talking point at E3 2015 this week--Microsoft and Sony have new demos to show for their HoloLens and Morpheus headsets on the show floor. But the third platform holder, Nintendo, doesn't. And now a top executive at the company has chimed in on the subject.

In a new interview with Polygon, Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime says the current state of virtual reality is "not fun" or social, two requirements that need to be met before Nintendo gets onboard.

"We have knowledge of the technical space, and we've been experimenting with this for a long, long time," Fils-Aime said. "What we believe is that, in order for this technology to move forward, you need to make it fun and you need to make it social."

"I haven't walked the floor, so I can't say in terms of what's on the floor today, but at least based on what I've seen to date, it's not fun, and it's not social. It's just tech."

Nintendo fans will remember that the company experimented with commercial virtual reality hardware in 1995 with the Virtual Boy. This product ultimately failed, and Nintendo hasn't tried again since.

Looking ahead, Nintendo's next platform, the NX, is currently in development. Nintendo did not talk about NX this week at E3, instead opting to begin discussing the platform sometime in 2016.

As for what Nintendo did announce at E3 this week, check out our roundup of all the big news.

What do you make of Fils-Aime's comments about virtual reality? Let us know in the comments below.