PSVR2: can virtual reality prevail on PS5?
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The virtual reality market is probably not the easiest to tame. Where one could have perceived a hypothetical revolution when the first helmets arrived a few years ago, the explosion never really took place. This does not mean that the technology is a thing of the past, as Sony has also proven, which, within the framework of CES, has finally formalized the arrival of its PlayStation VR 2.
13,785 viewsThe first conclusive steps in VR
It was in October 2016 that Sony chose to fully embrace virtual reality by releasing the PSVR on PS4. At the time, the market was still in its infancy and above all particularly exclusive. In terms of cost, the most capable headsets, namely the Oculus and HTC Vive range, were priced prohibitively high and required a powerful machine to unleash their full potential. Suffice to say that virtual reality was not really accessible to all budgets and that beyond that, most of the games released for this medium were more considered – or even thought of – as “experiments” rather than games. fully fledged. The PSVR was marketed around 400€ when it was marketed. If it still represented a real investment, which was equivalent to the price of the PS4, the helmet was still the most competitive in the sector But naturally, this greater accessibility for tighter budgets was not without some concessions . Indeed, it is difficult to compete with the panels of the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive, and even less with their dedicated controllers and their detection of the player in space. The PSVR relied on aging technologies. The detection went through the PS Camera, and the controls, when they were not adaptable to the dualshock, were handled by the PS Move, whose precision was regularly found wanting.
This does not mean that the PSVR has not been a success, on the contrary. In addition to the few small demos supplied with the headset, the device has also hosted significant games, such as the charming Moss, Astrobot or of course Resident Evil 7, the first foray of the cult saga into virtual reality. With a pleasant catalog and a relatively attractive price, the PSVR sold around 5 million units at the end of 2019 while the new generation of machines was only a few months away from its release and these are sales all the way. satisfactory. If certainly, we bring the number of PSVR to the full PS4 park in the world, this only represents a small percentage, but all the same, sales have been solid, enough in any case for Sony not to have the intention to leave this market aside with his PS5, as he confirmed during CES 2022.
A device in tune with the times
The very first information concerning the PSVR 2 was therefore announced during the show dedicated to tech, quickly followed by a post on the Playstation Blog, who provided more details regarding the technical characteristics embedded in the device. And naturally, the specificities of the helmet are rather in line with what is expected of modern VR equipment. The PS5 will have strong enough shoulders to support this technology and should allow it to approach what can be found on PC. OLED display, resolution of 2000x2040 per eye, refresh between 90 and 120 Hz, cameras on the helmet, and eye tracking (detection of eye movement) and vibration on the helmet will therefore be the big improvements made by the PSVR 2, which will largely boost the technical capabilities of the original helmet. We will note that eye tracking is a technology that is currently not widely used in the world of virtual reality. We don't yet know exactly how this feature will be used in-game, but from a development point of view, it also optimizes the calculation of images and therefore saves resources, by making the places where pose the eye of the player, in order to save resources on the zones perceived in the distance or only partially.
Naturally and fortunately, the PlayStation Move will take a well-deserved rest and will give way to the "Sense Controllers" which are obviously very largely inspired by the Oculus Touch. 6-axis motion detection, haptic feedback and finger detection on the buttons will therefore be embedded in these new controllers which will also be rechargeable via battery and not by batteries.
PSVR2 Headset FeaturesNo external camera, new controllers, high resolution, vibrations up to the helmet or even eye tracking testify to Sony's good understanding of the market, which has been seen more often than not. blame the bulkiness of the first PSVR, which quickly aged due to the rather dazzling developments of the Oculus range. The latter has now become much more democratized, displaying a price of around €400 and even offers a stand-alone model which can also be boosted by the purchase of a simple cable connected to your PC. It is therefore difficult to imagine Sony not aligning itself with this main competitor in this sector and therefore offering us headphones that reduce the connectors to a minimum, in order to make the experience as pleasant as possible. Exit the box, the multiple wires and the headphones, a simple USB C port will allow you to connect the headphones to your machine for a minimal footprint. But technology is not everything, you also have to lure the barge with a strong appeal product.
A strong appeal product
What better way to make people want to buy a product than to develop a game exclusive to it and especially from one of the most popular franchises from the previous generation? Indeed, not far from the release of Horizon: Forbidden West, the saga will also make its grand entrance into the world of virtual reality with Horizon: Call of the Mountain. Very few details have been revealed about the game. We just know that the story will be lived through the eyes of a brand new character who will however meet Aloy as well as other emblematic characters from Horizon. Naturally the huge creatures of the game universe lend themselves well to 360 degree immersion and were also featured in the brief teaser unveiled yesterday.
Horizon: Call of the Mountain trailer
If Forbidden West is a success, there is no doubt that many Aloy fans could be tempted by the acquisition of a headset that would allow them to extend the experience with a new vision. As we know, exclusivity can sell and Half-Life Alyx, for example, created a wave of purchases of PC VR headsets when it was announced, to the point that many stock shortages were reported from the various manufacturers. . But this will require adopting costs that are not totally prohibitive and also psychologically acceptable for the consumer.
Beware of the price
We saw it above, the PSVR2 should be a small concentrate of technology and this has a cost that will have to be amortized. As mentioned by Techradar, several hardware analysts have said that the Chinese company Goertek, would be in charge of the PSVR2 and that it would be about to launch large-scale production, which would suggest a release of the PSVR2. device in the more or less near future. But at what cost ? It's still hard to know. If the embedded technology remains quite expensive, Sony will not be able to afford to charge its device up to the inaccessible Valve Index or HTC Vive. Selling the PSVR2 at a price higher than that of the console capable of hosting it (400 or 500 €) also seems to be a choice to be excluded. Psychologically, it would be good to offer the device at less than €400, but perhaps Sony will choose to adopt its previous strategy, namely to align the price with that of its console. But, if it was simpler for the first PSVR in that it recycled existing technologies, namely the PS Move and the PS Camera, the second iteration of the headset starts from scratch can be considered a machine in its own right. And whatever the price, the PSVR2 will inevitably face the main difficulty of VR: that of convincing people to get started.
The hardest thing is to convince
It's a bit of the eternal catchphrase when we talk about virtual reality: this way of playing is "scary". The returns, however increasingly rare, of motion sickness, a feeling of nausea created by inner ear problems when using VR, to put it simply, did not particularly make the public want to, which logically did not don't want to invest hundreds of euros in a technology that will make him sick. In addition, there is always the question of space, because it is indeed not uncommon to bump into furniture in narrow spaces and also isolation. Virtual reality is a wonderful immersion tool, but it must be recognized that few things exist around when you put on a helmet and you are taken in the adventure and this point is also a prohibitive element for many people.
Virtual reality is essentially hampered by its low accessibility. It's a technology that more than ever has to be tried before you buy. Indeed, many will be reluctant to invest in an expensive helmet, which does not necessarily have a rich catalog of games and of which they do not know if the practice will please them or not, or even if it is possible in the configuration. of their accommodation. Sure, the PSVR 2 should finally get rid of the clutter and a painful installation made up of multiple cables, but the inherent problems with VR that we have just mentioned are not going away anytime soon. Does this mean that only insiders will take the plunge? Not so sure, since VR has evolved and offers ever immersive and better constructed experiences. However, it is difficult to say that the PSVR 2 will create the explosion of VR as one might have thought a few years ago.
The PSVR 2 should move away from the perception that we had of its big brother, namely a cheaper and less efficient alternative to PC headsets. Sony has naturally studied the sector well, and was inspired by the leaders of the market to offer a current helmet while providing some rare or new features such as eye-tracking or vibrations in the helmet. If we will have to wait to find out how these features will be integrated into the games and how the catalog of the device will expand, Sony will soon really enter the race for virtual reality and intends to make a name for itself in this domain which seems destined to always remain somewhat in its niche.
By [87], Journalist jeuxvideo.comMPTwitter