While the early chatter about Sony’s PSVR 2 headset has been mostly positive, there is a little bit of bad news to report.
Sony has confirmed first-generation PSVR games will not be compatible with the PlayStation VR 2 headset, which goes on sale in early 2023. Essentially, in the modern parlance, that means it is not backwards compatible. Boo!
Speaking on the official PlayStation podcast, the SVP of platform experience Hideaki Nishino says the PSVR 2’s advanced features mean games require a different development approach.
He said (via Nibellion, h/t Engadget): “PS VR games are not compatible with PS VR2 because PS VR2 is designed to deliver a truly next-generation VR experience.”
“PS VR2 has much more advanced features, like [an] all-new controller with haptic feedback and adaptive triggers, inside-out tracking, eye tracking… Video and audio are coming together and 4K HDR, of course. This means developing games for PS VR2 requires a whole different approach than the original PS VR.”
You can see the audio clip below:
That’ll be quite disappointing to owners of the original PSVR headset, who may have been hoping to enjoy games they’ve purchased on the new headset too. If they wish to keep on playing them, it will mean hanging onto their original headset, rather than selling it to earn money towards buying the new one.
It also means gamers grabbing the new PSVR 2 headset, whenever that arrives in early 2023, won’t have a full library of existing games to choose from out of the box. A number of high profile games have been confirmed though, including: Among Us, Horizon Call of the Mountain, Ghostbusters VR, No Man’s Sky, Resident Evil 4, Resident Evil Village, and Star Wars: Tales from the Galaxy’s Edge.
We’re hoping Sony will confirm a PSVR 2 price and release date before the year is out.
