Speaking to Digital Photography Review in an interview, Sony senior executive Yasuyuki Nagata didn’t have a whole lot of optimism for the consumer-end of the 360-degree camera market.

“The market itself is kind of shrinking,” he said.

According to Nagata, Sony remains committed to the consumer market and that the company’s future success depends on it continually offering “new imaging experiences”.

However, he also says that “we’d probably prefer to support professional users making 360 imaging using our A7-series and a rig, rather than chasing after the consumer market.”

From the sounds of it, they see 360-degree video and still content as something that should be added onto an existing product as a feature rather than stand as its own category – which is fair, given the shape of the 360-cam market.

Nagata’s comments come at a time where Samsung has just relaunched its dedicated 4K 360-degree camera, the Gear360.

Meanwhile, back in February, Boost cofounder Peter Adderton predicted that the future of the 360-degree is not as an accessory but rather as a function integrated into the camera of modern smartphones.