Pops Culture

By: Papa Minnow

It’s no secret that 2022 is poised to be a major year for Sony and it’s Playstation division. The Japanese tech giant started the year off with one of it’s major announcements at the Consumer Electronics Show 2022 (CES) by unveiling some details about its next generation VR headset.

To no surprise the newest model will be named PlaystationVR2, but it’s still unclear when the headset will release or at what price point. However, Sony did take to the stage to confirm the specs and capabilities of PSVR2, along with a new title; Horizon Call of the Mountain.

This new game will take place in the Horizon universe and will follow a new protagonist. Development is being handled by newly acquired Firesprite studios and Guerilla Games. While the unveiling showed a small glimpse of on-rail gameplay, the game is set to usher in a level of AAA VR experiences that has never been seen before according to the developers.

That experience will only be capable through the power of what PSVR2 is set to offer, and based off Sony’s specs PSVR2 will greatly improve on it’s predecessor and boast high quality VR gaming. Sony states PSVR2 will offer a 4K HDR display (2000 x 2040 pixels per eye), up to 120Hz refresh rates, 110 degrees field of view, built in eye tracking, with the need of only one USB-C cord.

Sony is taking things further with a level of immersion that has yet to be seen. PSVR2’s Sense controllers will feature the same haptic feedback and adaptive trigger technology as seen in the PS5’s DualSense controllers. And the headset itself will include both fovea rendering meaning what you’re looking at will produce the sharpest image, and haptics that give a new level of immersion in certain situations.

It seems the success of Sony’s PSVR has really given them the boost to pioneer innovation in the VR space. While pricing is still up in the air there are several things that will aid in making PSVR2 affordable for consumers.

Sony is looking to be a leader in this space given their commitment to developing unique titles for VR, and as previously stated, the forward thinking technology inside PSVR2. Their biggest competitor in the space is Facebook’s Oculus Quest 2 which retails for $299 USD and has 3rd party reports of shipping 10 million units so far. In comparison, PSVR’s last report states it moved five million units as of January 2020 (likely 6 million by now).

If Playstation is looking for mass appeal (which has been the case with most of it’s consoles), then they’re going to have to come in at a competitive price point. The original PSVR debuted for $399 and that required a lot of additional peripherals to play. Sony has the benefit of not only attaching PSVR2 to the PS5 console thereby alleviating processing power costs, but also making up costs through software sales.

The Japanese company could easily sell the unit at a bit of a loss and make up for that loss through software sales since PSVR is a closed ecosystem. PSVR had a successful attachment rate of games per user so it’s likely Sony expects the same if not better with the new unit.

Sony is also a hardware company and they can foster deals with several manufacturing companies to lower the production cost for parts of each unit. All these factors in tandem could see a price point release of $399, $449, or $499 per unit. Note, this is simply speculation, but given Sony’s history they’ve mostly managed to balance price and tech with their hardware.

It’s only a matter of time before we find out where Sony’s head is at in regards to PSVR2 in the upcoming weeks.

Featured Image via: IGN.com