The Future of Smell in Gaming: A Conversation with Sam Wisniewski & Sarah Socia
Digital experiences are becoming our most common interactions with the world, yet they still leave out one of our most powerful senses.
In this episode of the Internet of Senses Institute Podcast, I sat down with two members of the OVR Technology team: Sam Wisniewski, co-founder and president, and Sarah Socia, Director of Fragrance Innovation & R&D. We discussed how scent is transforming gaming.
Olfaction is a fundamental part of human experience, yet digital media has largely ignored it. We readily accept sight and sound as essential components of immersion but despite its direct connection to memory and emotion in the brain, smell has remained left behind. OVR Technology is changing that!
Our interview covered a lot of ground, discussing why previous attempts at scent-enabled media failed and how OVR’s new Omara device solves one of the biggest challenges in olfactory technology: making scent disappear as quickly as it appears. Sam and Sarah explain how precise, localized scent delivery allows smells to be synchronized with gameplay in real time, opening the door to entirely new forms of storytelling and interaction. The Omara device uses a “scent cassette” which holds 16 different common game scents that can be use and distributed for months of gameplay.
We also explored how scent can function as a game mechanic. Like sound design, scent can be literal, emotional, or atmospheric. Developers are already experimenting with everything from scent-driven detective games to cozy survival experiences that use smell to deepen immersion. Perhaps most intriguing is OVR’s vision of “digitally native scents” or olfactory experiences created specifically for virtual worlds rather than copied from reality. Just as iconic sounds have become part of gaming culture, future games may have signature scents.
For anyone interested in olfaction, immersive media, or the future of sensory technology, this episode is essential listening.
You can listen to the full conversation below or wherever you get your podcasts.
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