PSVR2: Next-Gen Boogaloo

[wakka]

Okay so on the Quest side it's pancake lenses (yum) and on the PSVR side you've got the advantage of OLED.

Seems like something of a wash. I can't see this selling too many more units. It's not a bad gesture to offer PSVR2 owners more functionality, as at the moment it's looking like it's going to be setting records as Sony's most quickly abandoned platform ever.

If it expanded the userbase enough to trigger ports of PSVR1 software to both PC and PS5 that would be a major win though. There are so many PSVR1 games I'd absolutely love to play but I'm kinda put off by the now dated headset.

[huxley]

https://www.theverge.com/2024/2/22/2...c-support-2024

It's an interesting move, the tech in it for the price is pretty compelling from a cost point of view vs its competitors (its over half the price of the valve index and features tech not in the index eye tracking for one). It's a win for Sony as it opens up an entire new marketplace for its headset, and it's a win for steam as it brings in new VR customers to its ecosystem.

I wonder if this will be a streaming solution, so you will still need a PlayStation five or allowing PS5 to run natively with SteamVR?

I wonder if Capcom will follow suit and allow the resident evil VR modes on PC at last?

[Brad]

Doubt it. More likely just trying to recoup r&d and fabrication setup costs. Will it need it's own API or just use steamvr or openxr is the question I want answered.

[MartyG]

Interesting. People who are knowledgeable about VR, how does the PSVR2 match up as a PCVR headset against the Quest 3?

It's a decent headset - OLED, eye tracking for foveated rendering are all supported with SteamVR, and controllers should be easily mappable. It'll be a good headset on PC, the only downside being the wires.

I'd suspect that Sony has made this move because unofficial support was about to drop - if Sony is doing it officially they may well be able to cut that market off, or at least limit it.

[huxley]

If its going to be connected to PC once Sony release some sort of driver set for it they will have lost control of its use.
I suspect they want to get Sony produced and licensed games onto Steam.

Flat screen Sony games that have come to Steam have sold well, a few bumps but still done well.

[MartyG]

They never had control of it.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021000/iVRy_Driver_for_SteamVR_PSVR2_Premium_Edition/

[huxley]

They never had control of it.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1...emium_Edition/

That’s not been released yet and the version that is available isn’t fully functioning.

[Lebowski]

I don't see this as a doom and gloom thing for Sony more them adding something that all their competitors have. It's another feather in their cap and another reason to buy the PSVR2 aligning it with the quest 2 and 3, They're still tinkering with the software on PS5 too, the current PS5 system beta software includes software updates to the headset and the controllers.

Software for the thing is still dropping on to PS5 really regularly with all the big release in the vr space coming to psvr2 Resident evil 4, Arizona sunshine 2, vertigo 2 and bulletstorm VR recently There have been a number of sales recently too making me pick up some smaller games like puzzling places and forevr bowl (which was £1.80 and is a great bowling game), it's not as if the thing is dead and has no software. it's just first party stuff from Sony that it's lacking, no doubt we will see some stuff soon as astro bot is in the works we know this much we just don't know when it's coming out.

[huxley]

Totally agree, it can only be positive the more people having access to different VR libraries Regardless of the headset is a great thing

[Neon Ignition]

Yep, if you have PSVR2 and a PC when this support drops you're absolutely set as you'll effectively have access to pretty much everything. Arguably you'll have no need to hook it to PS5 again

[huxley]

I’m considering one as my index is getting a bit long in the tooth, and Ive seen some secondhand PSVR2s at reasonable prices

[MartyG]

That’s not been released yet and the version that is available isn’t fully functioning.

That's not really the point - Sony don't lose anything by supporting PC, as it's going to happen with or without them. They're doing this because iVRy is about to drop.

[Lebowski]

They could just as easily do nothing and leave the app as the route to take to get it working with steam I doubt IVry has anything to do with it these unofficial apps show up all the time, and a lot of people ignore them, I used to have one that let me trick the Oculus store into thinking my WMR headset was a Rift.

Getting the headset certified with its own official steam drivers and options is no small task, and it makes it massively easier for pc users if you just plug the headset in, and it just works with steam and you don't have to go through some buggy 3rd party software thats not guaranteed to work.

[wakka]

My guess would be that the inevitability of unofficial support is one factor among many in the decision to proceed with this, rather than the sole reason.

[MartyG]

Getting the headset certified with its own official steam drivers and options is no small task.

What certification? SteamVR is open source.