Today on the PlayStation Blog, SVP of Platform Experience Hideaki Nishino gave gamers a first look at the next generation of PlayStation VR. Announced a little ahead of CES 2022, PlayStation VR2 was set to continue the push for home VR experiences the Tokyo electronics giant began in 2016. The unit design mirrors the PS5 console which it is meant to connect with, and even features thousands of tiny PlayStation symbols to add texture to the surfaces of the unit.
The headset is slightly slimmer than its predecessor, however it will manage to weigh less than the original PlayStation VR headset. It also eschews the PlayStation Move controllers and opts for a new controller which mirrors the controllers of other headsets in the market.
A quality of life update which I find helpful are vents which hope to reduce fogging. Sony has also fought against those who hate ports by still including a stereo headphone jack to the headset. The PS VR2 will also sport higher resolution screens, wider field of view and eye tracking. Mr. Nishino has also mentioned that developers do have access to dev kits and here?s hoping there will be bountiful support for the new platform.
So can you see this product taking a place of honor in your home or will you fight the urge to enter any VR worlds? There is no release date announced for PS VR2 and we expect additional details from Sony as the year progresses.
PlayStation VR2 product shots:
Today, I am especially pleased to reveal the stunning new design of our next generation VR headset, PlayStation VR2, together with an updated and final design image of our PlayStation VR2 Sense controller.
You?ll notice the PS VR2 headset has a similar shape as the PS VR2 Sense controller, taking on a matching ?orb? look. The circular orb shape represents the 360-degree view that players feel when they enter the virtual reality world, so this shape captures it nicely.
The design of the PS VR2 headset was also inspired by the look of the PS5 family of products. When our design team created the PS5 console, they also had the next generation VR headset in mind so you?ll notice some similarities in the look and feel. The PS5 console has flat edges as it is meant to be displayed on a flat surface, while there was more emphasis on adding roundness to the design of PS VR2 headset since it is meant to have constant human contact, similar to the rounded edges of the DualSense controller and Pulse 3D headset.
Our goal is to create a headset that will not only become an attractive part of your living room decor, but will also keep you immersed in your game world, to the point where you almost forget you are using a headset or controller. That?s why we paid very close attention to the ergonomics of the headset and conducted extensive testing to ensure a comfortable feel for a variety of head sizes. We already had a lot of positive feedback on the ergonomics of the first PS VR headset by carefully balancing the headset weight and having a simple headband that can be adjustable, so we kept the same concept for the PS VR2 headset. Other features such as the headset?s adjustable scope that places the scope area closer or further away from the face and placement of the stereo headphone jack also remain the same, so players will be familiar with it.
For the PS VR2 headset, we took comfort a few steps further by adding new features such as a lens adjustment dial, so users have an additional option to match the lens distance between their eyes to optimize their view. We also created a slimmer design with a slight weight reduction ? even with the new added features such as the new built-in motor for the headset feedback. It was quite a challenge to create a slimmer design with new features added to improve upon our first headset, but our design and engineering teams proved this could be possible when we saw the final design!
Additionally, we?ve integrated a new vent design for the PS VR2 headset that we think users will enjoy. Yujin Morisawa, Senior Art Director at SIE led the headset design of PS VR2 and explains why this is his absolute favorite part of the design:
?When I started to work on the design for the PlayStation VR2 headset, one of the areas I wanted to focus on first was the idea of creating a vent in the headset to let air out, similar to the vents on the PS5 console that allows airflow. Our engineers came up with this idea as a good way to allow ventilation and avoid having the lens fog up while players are immersed in their VR games. I worked on many design concepts to achieve this, and in the final design, you can see there is a little space in between the top and front surface of the scope that contains the integrated ventilation. I am really proud of how this turned out and the positive feedback I have gotten so far. I hope our PlayStation fans will also agree, and I can?t wait for them to try it out.?
? Yujin Morisawa, Senior Art Director, SIE
Another treat we wanted to share ? similar to the thousands of tiny PlayStation symbols we added to the design of the PS5 console and DualSense controller, we also included tiny PlayStation symbols to the front and back bands of the PS VR2 headset to add a comfortable feel for players to enjoy.
When PS VR2 launches, it?ll take a giant leap forward in the way we play games in virtual reality. There are plenty of exciting new features to look forward to in the PS VR2 system, including stunning visual fidelity in 4K HDR and state-of-art graphical rendering, enhanced tracking such as inside-out camera tracking, new PlayStation VR2 Sense Technology features such as headset feedback, and the new, intuitive PS VR2 Sense controller that creates an incredibly deep feeling of immersion. Additionally, the PS VR2 system comes in a simple, single cord set up so you can connect to your games immediately. PS VR2 development kits are already in the hands of game creators, and we are excited for what they?ll come up with to truly make virtual reality a remarkable experience for gamers. We look forward to sharing more details with you about PS VR2. Stay tuned!