BPX089: Through PSVR Coloured Lenses

[Neon Ignition]

In two weeks time it will be the one year anniversary of Sony's PlayStation VR2. The headset launched on 22 February last year solely on Sony's own website before being rolled out later to other retailers to sell and has hosted many VR title ports since its release along with some VR mode updates for a handful of games. In addition there has been a selection of exclusives released for the headset including Horizon: Call of the Mountain, Switchback VR and Synapse.

A year on and the picture for PSVR2's current status remains vague, we know enough to know sales of the headset have been difficult for Sony but it remains the only console based headset and one of the more high profile VR options on the market.


One year on - What is your verdict so far of PSVR2 and what do you expect of it from the year ahead?

[Lebowski]

I've gone with Sony's stance on its headset indifferent, despite owning one it really does feel like it hasn't had the support of psvr1 and there are notable absences in its library, a new Astrobot and a new Blood and truth would be easy wins for Sony, in-fact anything first party would be a win. Firewall 2 felt like a massive miss from Sony instead of working with them to get the best possible exclusive, They launched it when it clearly wasn't ready and then shut down the studio when the bad reviews came flooding in. Thats hardly them showing support for VR and seems very short-termism.

3rd party support feels decent enough, all the big hitters are here Gorn, Beatsabre, Pistolwhip, Job Simulator, walking dead, Pavlov, synth rider ect, and then theirs things like No Mans Sky, Resident Evil 4 and vertigo 2 that push the headset. So it's not like it's starving for software, it just needs a few more first party killer apps to really show that Sony are serious in its support for the system, and it's not this gen's PS Vita or PlayStation TV.

[nonny]

I don't own one but I am honestly surprised at the lack of support for it since launch, mainly given that it is a much better headset than it's predecessor and they've had a lot of time to prepare for it's release.

A real missed opportunity... agree it needs a killer app, from a first party studio no less. That new Metro VR title looked good though...

[Asura]

Negative.

I've played a fair bit of some games on it, including the heavy hitters like Horizon, and to give that game credit, it looks fantastic and Sony wisely chose a game with bright, colourful visuals to really show off the value of those OLED displays.

But ultimately, I feel it suffers due to the fresnel lenses (I just can't go back to them, and was never happy with them on prior headsets) and being wired. It's hard to equate those to console-generation leaps, because they're such fundamental shifts in how things work.

And I don't care how you slice it, not having PSVR1 support was a mistake. As we've discussed here, I would've understood had they hauled ass to make sure their release calendar was peppered with re-releases of PSVR1 games for PSVR2, maybe with Nintendo-style cursory upgrades to make it worthwhile for existing players (moving to a new headset with better hardware really does give VR games new life; I've replayed several games already on Quest 3 that I finished on Q2), but they've done neither, which just seems confusing.

Overall it's not clear what their brand strategy for PSVR2 is/was. I can't help feel that, deep down, it might be that the PSVR1 did really well, basically demolishing Sony's expectations for the device, and they might've went into PSVR2 with misgivings but with a "well, it worked before?" mindset.

[MartyG]

It's a decent headset, I'd like to be able to use it on my PC.

[Neon Ignition]

I've gone for Indifferent. It feels like it would be mean spirited to weigh in on it negatively given what I paid for it but without question I'm very reserved when it comes to the device.

I haven't used it a lot, mostly because I'm mindful of the suspicion that once I've seen what it currently has to offer then I might have seen everything it will have to offer. It's mileage varies incredibly widely depending on whether PS5 is or isn't your only method of playing VR games. As it's one of three for me then it's caught in a snag. The PSVR is obviously the weaker option but has better exclusives, played out as they are after these years. The Quest 3 is superior in every single respect.

I'm not keen on how cheap the PSVR2 unit feels but I accept that's largely because there's a lot less to it with the console doing the grunt work. The single wire is weirdly irritating after going wireless but it is what it is also. You get better visuals on some games where the devs have made the effort but you pay more, with VR I would still say that buying Quest 3 and accepting the step back visually is still the much better option than paying the inflated prices Sony incur. Once Quest 3 factors in connectivity to PC then that case slams shut.

But, on its own merits with its own exclusives it's a solid experience. I don't feel like eye tracking is a game changer, it's nice but unessential whilst the FOV rendering feels pretty redundant given the lenses they've chosen to use anyway. I've still not completed any of the key titles on it, really dragging it out and I've still had my sights set on later this month or shortly after for Sony to break radio silence as it having its own exclusives really is critical to its lifespan.

So, yeah. As an experience it sits in the middle ground with the caveats that for me it still remains for Sony to show a roadmap for it and for myself to commit more time to fully fall on where I land with it. For the coming year my spider-sense is tingling though and should Sony just leave it to tick along on its own then it's really hard to picture owning it still if it's just going to be a more expensive Quest.

[Lebowski]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, we get it

The Quest 3 is better than the second coming of Jesus

[teddymeow]

I've owned a PSVR2 for almost a month and it's great:

Horizon: Call of the Mountain
Pistol Whip
Synapse
Moss 1 & 2
Resident Evil 4
Gran Turismo 7
Humanity

Some great games and good fun!

However, as others have said, Sony appear to have forgotten the thing exists. Where's Astro?! Where's a new Blood & Truth?

The only game on my VR watchlist is Wanderer, which looks amazing!

Let's hope there's a State of Play just for VR in the coming weeks.

[wakka]

I'd have to say 'Indifferent' at present, although it's more like 'Unsure'.

I was gung ho to buy one at launch but got cold feet, and my fears of a lack of support have turned out to be pretty well founded so far.

It feels like a bad investment versus the Quest 3, which has more games, WAY more support, equivalent or better technology in terms of the actual headset for the most part, and feels like a proper going concern rather than something that will eventually be brushed under the carpet.

Plus, Quest doesn't have a wire, and everyone who's gone from Quest to PSVR seems to really hate that wire.

On the other hand, there are games I really want to play on PSVR2. Resi 2 Remake, Resi 8, and GT7 aren't on Quest and they're some of the absolute top games I'd like to play in VR.

A price drop and some more non-Quest titles that I really want could sway me to a PSVR2. But at the moment it's not looking likely.

[Lebowski]

I've owned a PSVR2 for almost a month and it's great:

Horizon: Call of the Mountain
Pistol Whip
Synapse
Moss 1 & 2
Resident Evil 4
Gran Turismo 7
Humanity

Some great games and good fun!

However, as others have said, Sony appear to have forgotten the thing exists. Where's Astro?! Where's a new Blood & Truth?

The only game on my VR watchlist is Wanderer, which looks amazing!

Let's hope there's a State of Play just for VR in the coming weeks.

There is potential for first party stuff to be announced this year, as if you look at the companies that made the biggest psvr games all are working on unannounced projects.

Team Asobi where adverting for staff to work on a new a new 3d action game, in 2021 two years before the psvr2 came out so it's very likely that a new Astro bot game is in development for the psvr2.

Firesprite, helped with playroom vr and call of the mountain no news on what they are working on and they are now SIE's largest UK-based studio.

London Studio Again radio silence on what they're working on despite delivering Blood and Truth and PlayStation VR Worlds and having a pretty strong PSVR pedigree.

Creative Vault Studios last game was wipeout vr for Sony

Impulse Gear still working on Vr have a good relationship with sony as they published farpoint and bundled it with the Aim controller

---

First Contact Entertainment closed when firewall ultra bombed

[Neon Ignition]

Asobi is probably the one to watch, especially after they expanded following the PS5 launch. I'm not 100% but I'm sure London Studio is sadly tied up with one of Sony's many GAAS projects.

[Lebowski]

Asobi is probably the one to watch, especially after they expanded following the PS5 launch. I'm not 100% but I'm sure London Studio is sadly tied up with one of Sony's many GAAS projects.

Really bizarre choice to pivot them onto what is obviously going to be a GTA clone set in London, with live service elements.

"Hey your PSVR games were really well received and did amazing well you got a real handle on the tech and potential to do great things on our new headset but forget all that hears a copy of The Getaway, It's been a while since we tried our hand at a GTA clone!"

[Neon Ignition]

Yep, if the number of GAAS projects rumoured to be in development is true them it feels like Sony became overly distracted on it. Understandable that different concepts might get tried out but it must have tied up studios which then just leads to debacles like the abandoned TLOU multiplayer. Blood and Truth 2 would have been amazing

[Asura]

Really bizarre choice to pivot them onto what is obviously going to be a GTA clone set in London, with live service elements.

"Hey your PSVR games were really well received and did amazing well you got a real handle on the tech and potential to do great things on our new headset but forget all that hears a copy of The Getaway, It's been a while since we tried our hand at a GTA clone!"

I suspect it's for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I don't really know how well Blood & Truth performed, even though it was pretty objectively fantastic as a game.

But secondly, when it comes to game sales and performance, GTAV is like a force of nature. It's sold somewhere in the region of 200 million units. That's a single game having sold more than all the Mario Kart games put together, plus maybe 30 million for good measure. And that's before the online sales (putting aside the mitigating factor of how codes for new copies of the game can be exchanged for currency in the online version). The word "behemoth" doesn't even summarise it. Publishers are desperate to have their own.

[Neon Ignition]

Not as a GAAS, MMO title but I'd happily take an attempt at The Getaway 3. Something that adopts the cinematic leanings of Blood and Truth. GTA is great but the industries aversion to releasing rivals, even if they can't meet the quality bar, is frustrating when children are born and leave education faster than Rockstar knock out a new entry. Well, there's Watch Dogs but that's really too far from similar.