After confirming earlier this year that the PS5 will be receiving a new VR headset peripheral, Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan has further outlined the company’s commitment to all things virtual reality.
In an interview with Nikkei (flagged by Upload VR), Ryan confirmed that PlayStation has big VR plans. He said: “The next generation VR system is a very strategic opportunity for PlayStation. We launched PSVR in 2016 and have had time to understand the VR experience for years. What I learned from VR is that the potential market is huge.”
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PlayStation’s first foray into VR has sold more than five million units as of January 2020. So there is clearly significant demand for virtual reality experiences among console gamers. Sony’s next-gen VR headset is primed to push the needle even further forward bringing experiences not capable on the first PSVR headset to console players.
The PSVR has often earned praise for not relying on gimmicks and instead offering users a range of fully-fleshed-out gaming experiences. It seems that is the objective once again with the PSVR 2.
“I want to continue to provide a high gaming experience to keep the community entertained,” said Ryan.
We already know of at least one PS5 VR game currently in development, and there has been some speculation that the headset could receive a port of the critical acclaimed VR game Half-Life: Alyx. We’d also love to see Team ASOBI, who created Astro Bot: Recuse Mission one of the original PSVR’s best games, given the opportunity to make another Astro Bot game as the little guy is becoming something of PlayStation mascot at this point.
In terms of the PSVR 2 headset itself, we don’t know what it will actually look like but we have had confirmation that it will connect to the PS5 via a single cord, which is a great relief as the first PSVR requires a nightmare of cable spaghetti to function. Sony has given us a look at its next-gen VR controllers though, and they look like a huge upgrade from the PlayStation Move wands used by the current PSVR headset.
It’s already been confirmed that the PSVR 2 won’t be releasing this year (maybe because Sony can’t even get PS5 restocks under control). But we’ll likely hear more about the headset throughout 2021 as its clearly a key area that PlayStation is committed to long-term.
