Alleged PSVR 2 photos could be our first real-life look at the PS5 VR headset

Things have been pretty quiet on the PSVR 2 front, and for the past few months we’ve had almost complete silence from Sony on the headset. So imagine our surprise when an image, originally claimed to be the PSVR 2, popped up on Twitter.

In a tweet that has now been deleted, indie studio Bit Planet Games shared a picture of what seems to be the PSVR 2 — along with the caption “guess what’s coming to PSVR 2?” But before that tweet could be deleted, it was saved and reposted to sites like Reddit.

first_real_picture_of_ps_vr2_mirror_because from r/PSVR

One user wondered whether the developers were braking a non-disclosure agreement by sharing the image, since this is the first time we’ve seen a physical PSVR 2 rather than a render. Apparently “If [it had] released this photo 6 months ago you’d be right.”

Of course, the tweet was deleted and replaced with one featuring a generic PSVR 2 render. So someone stepped in and shut this whole thing down. Whether it was someone at the studio, or acting on behalf of Sony, isn’t clear.

When asked about the deleted tweet, Bit Planet Games backpedalled a little bit — insisting the image “looks fake to us,” that it was “fake news” and a “pro photoshop [sic] job.” At one point the person in charge of social media said that it was cardboard, duct tape, some wires and lots of 3D printing. It looks pretty neat for a 3D print, and I’d be more inclined to believe them if they said it was cake — which was actually joked about. 

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen the PSVR 2 design. Sony first unveiled the design earlier this year, showing off a headset that certainly does look like an updated version of the original. And it comes with controllers that are actually controllers, with a similar design to the Oculus Touch rather than glowing motion controller wands.

However, the fact that this appears to be a physical PSVR 2 rather than a render, is newsworthy in itself. Even if there aren’t any major surprises in the design.

The headset is set to come with 4K resolution, HDR, a 110 degree field of view and support for 90Hz and 120Hz refresh rates. On top of that it will feature eye tracking, which will scale the resolution on screen based on where the player is looking. That way the PSVR 2 doesn’t have to waste resources on something you’re not even paying attention to.

We’re expecting the PSVR 2 to arrive sometime in 2023, but we don’t know exactly when it will arrive or how much it will cost. We do know that it will launch with more than 20 games, and one title that will be exclusive to the headset is Horizon: Call of the Mountain.

We’ll bring you more on the PSVR 2 as and when we hear it. So watch this space.