3D gaming sees very poor returns, says EA

Electronic Arts does not plan to focus on 3D gaming and will instead favour social and online markets, CEO John Riccitiello has announced.

At the company's annual shareholder meeting, Riccitiello expressed his concern at focusing on 3D game development over social and online games.

"We see really high returns in these markets and very poor returns focusing on 3D, so we are allocating our resources toward new innovations," he said.

"Frankly, we have not seen a big uptake for 3D gaming. We have not seen a big uptake in 3D TVs in the home, at least not yet. We are not here trying to drive a market. We are here to react to what consumers are looking for."

Speaking about the Nintendo 3DS, Ricitiello lamented the system's reception.

"It was perceived to be the next big thing. There were complaints about it causing headaches and nausea and all sorts of things. It didn't do that for me, but there were complaints, and it's not performed as well as they would like," he said.

Nintendo recently announced that the Nintendo 3DS price will be cut by a third on August 12.

Electronic Arts bought PopCap for $750 million earlier this month.