Seems like Dolby Atmos in games is dying prematurely

Resident Evil 2 had it. RE3 dropped it.

Rise and Shadow of the Tomb Raider have it on Xbox, but not on PC for some reason.

Star Wars Battlefront and SW BF2 had it. Jedi: Fallen Order does not.

I don't know if this list here is up to date:

https://www.reddit.com/r/pcgaming/comments/mb5bsf/dolby_atmos_supported_games_permanent/

So, what's the deal? Why are developers/publishers dropping it? Why still so few supported games?

Instead of asking these unanswerable questions, maybe I should ask if you care and then gauge from that if it even has any market value.

I’m sure they have internal data that shows the actual end user use of Dolby Atmos. I have an Atmos setup. It’s nice! But suuuuuuuuper niche. And these Atmos sound bars don’t represent the tech in any meaningful way.

In a

Way, we all atmos u know what im sayin, beef with the heath bar, nintendo 64

https://www.amazon.ca/Sennheiser-AMBEO-Soundbar-5-1-4-Channel/dp/B08J99R8WJ

Apparently, there are people who would rather spend 6000 dollars on an Atmos soundbar than have "ugly" speakers spread around their living room.

Not surprising. I doubt most gamers even have Dolby equipment. Plus, why even bother when you can just use windows spacial sound apis?

We are depending on a Reddit post as evidence? Can we find a more reliable source than Reddit?

https://www.dolby.com/experience/games

Same games. But at least that link shows which are supported on PC as well as Xbox.

Oh I know a few. 🙄

From the rtings review regarding Atmos:

”This soundbar supports Atmos, but has sub-par performance due to the up-firing speakers located on the bar. This setup still sounds pretty wide thanks to the AMBEO 3D mode, but the localization of objects is a bit diffused when it comes to height. This won’t sound as real as a discrete localization provided by down-firing speakers.”

I know some people don’t like the look of home theater speakers. But their performance can’t be matched

I have a Samsung HW-Q950A and it does a pretty good job. But it's expensive as hell.

Welll there goes xbsex main selling point down the drain. Rest In Peace xbsex

@goldenelementxl:

Agreed, Soundbars (even ignoring atmos) can not match the quality of even a half decent home theater setup. And speakers can look good too there are many very nice looking ones (granted some are pricey, like the Kef r series). Furthermore given how expensive some of these Soundbars are, for price/performance can get a good HT setup for a similar price which will destroy a soundbar.

In terms of dolby atmos, upfiring is hit or miss (my HT has upfiring and it works but obviously ceiling mounted would be better). But on Soundbars, the positioning in most cases simply won't be correct. Ideally (if memory serves right) the upfiring speakers should be placed above ear level but no more than half the height of the ceiling. I am guessing in most soundbar setups, the upfiring speakers are placed below ear level, kind of negating the point of atmos.

Lastly, in terms of soundbar vs HT, so many of these Soundbars come with anemic subwoofer that can't even go down below 40hz or so, such an anemic subwoofer negates the benefits of even having a sub since it can't go low enough.

Will never understand why one would spend 2k or so on a soundbar instead of even a half decent HT setup. One could get JBL Studio 530s (2x$300), a JBL Studio 520c or Emotiva C1+ center ($200), 7.1 receiver from Costco (denon/yamaha/onkyo for $400-$500), cheap upfiring speakers (Pioneer, Sony etc, can be had for as low as $100 per pair) and a decent (infinity sub r12) or good (hsu/monolith/rhytmik/svs) subwoofer for between 200-800. All in all would cost between like 1500-2300 but would be way superior to any soundbar setup.

Also don't understand why one would buy a high quality TV (like a Samsung QN90, LG/Sony OLED, etc) but use the built in speakers (which honestly always sound awful)

@goldenelementxl: I always crack up seeing the advertisements for sound bars being just like an actual home theater. Nah, not even close.

remember HD-DVD Vs Blu-Ray yeah don't ever side with microsoft you always lose

That's a funny thing to say, because Sony has more Atmos Blu-rays than anyone in the business. Even movies seventy years old.

How much effort is it to implement? Do you need to buy a separate application to get it running on the PC too or does it work out of the box on windows (the dolby site wasn't that clear)?

If it's a pain and only works on xbox consoles out of the box then dev support is going to be very patchy at best. It just wont get any sort of priority in development.

It's the same with Sonys sound system in the PS5. if that stays locked to the PS5 then only sonys own developers are going to take advantage of it really. Multiplat devs are not going to bother.

Tech tied to specific hardware tends to fade away over time.

Make sense considering Xbox allegedly paying exclusive rights for Dolby. Devs have to divide playerbase that is on PS/Nontendo. No reason for such effort to optimize audio when some systems cant use it while others might not even have access.

nah. sony was to cheap to pay up for there console... but every other line from sound bars etc. use/support atmos.

@firedrakes: well there was that deleted xbox blogpost on Dolby exclusivity but regardless Dolby does ask you to pay for these things on compatible headphones. Sony have its own spatial audio tech and its free on PS. Seems like support for 3D audio is pretty healthy on that platform. Too bad for soundbar and home theater users though.

K. I barely know what it is and defnintely wont miss it.

It shows up in your Sound options on the taskbar after you install Dolby Access (free) from the Windows Store.

I'm guessing the licensing and mixing costs are a bigger reason for it not being in many games.

Sound coming from more directions. I really couldn't care less and I consider myself an audiophile.

Yeah, I figured. I own a 5.1 system and I don't even bother with connecting more than two speakers and a sub. It's fine for TV watching/gaming. Then I use headphones for PC gaming. My headphones have a 7.1 system, which I also don't bother using, since stereo sounds much better in 99% of all games.

Couldn't give less of a shit about "atmos".

Ubisoft can't even make standard stereo audio work on Far Cry 3 Classic so not surprised.

i meant non head phones

For me, it would be the Yamaha flagship range of sound bars. The sound bar has 46 speakers on it.

And yeah, I think I'd prefer it to having a load of speakers all over the place.

I've just gotten a small Panasonic "Sound Slayer" Sound Bar, it's only 2.1, but it's virtual surround, sounds far better than I expected. It's actually been tuned by a team that works on Final Fantasy. But that's not why I got it. It was the only one that fits the space I wanted it for and it's quite high quality.

I'm sold on sound bars now.