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PlayStation VR 2

An Effort to Hack PSVR 2 to Support PC VR Has Been Put on Indefinite Hold

From roadtovr

The creator of a PC VR driver which includes support for the original PSVR 1 headset says it is stepping away from hacking PSVR 2 to work with PC VR, citing frustrating technical, financial, and social challenges.

Mediator Software, the developer of a PSVR-to-PC SteamVR driver called iVRy, says it is putting efforts to hack PSVR 2 for PC VR compatibility on hold. Just days after saying it had managed to authenticate PSVR 2 on PC, the developer says the project is now on ice.

“I’m walking away from this project for the time being. Between spiralling costs, a never ending set of obstacles put forward by the PSVR2, unrealistic hype in blogs, abusive commenters and accusations of fraud, it has ceased to be fun. I’ll be back. Some time,” reads the announcement.

The creators also shared screenshots showing what kind of social media strife they were facing, apparently with regards to Mediator Software seeking financial support for the project from the community.

Aside from the social challenges, struggling to get PSVR 2 working on SteamVR isn’t surprising. Despite their best efforts, the iVRy developers themselves previously said it was “unlikely” that PSVR 2 would be useable for PC VR “within five years of its release,” if ever.

That’s a shame considering PSVR 2 is one of the market’s best consumer headsets to date, and even has the basic ability to act like a proper display when plugged into a PC.

While we’d love to see PSVR 2 work with PC VR, the reality is that Sony has little incentive to let it happen.

Thanks to our pal Daniel Fearon for the tip!

Report: Sony Plans to Produce 2 Million PSVR 2 Headsets by March 2023

From roadtovr

Sony plans to release PSVR 2 sometime in early 2023, although exactly when is still a mystery. Now a Bloomberg report maintains the company is aiming to produce 2 million units by March 2023, which would signify a sizeable uptick in sales expectations over the original PSVR.

Citing people familiar with the matter, the report maintains the 2 million figure “could be adjusted depending on the device’s sales momentum.” The company allegedly hasn’t faced any supply chain issues after initially heading into mass production in September, however.

Released in October 2016, the original PSVR for PS4 reached that two-million-unit sales mark after about 14 months on store shelves. In late 2019, Sony announced the headset has sold over five million units. By the time PSVR reached that two-million-mark Sony had already sold 70.6 million PS4s however—a large potential install base that PS5 frankly just doesn’t have yet.

Photo by Road to VR

According to sales figures obtained by Android Authority, the company has only sold five million PS5 consoles as of August 2022. The Bloomberg report maintains though PSVR 2 sales will begin with “an expected relief of supply chain bottlenecks” that affected the rollout of PlayStation 5, so it’s possible the company is looking to significantly increase production on PS5 to further maximize PSVR 2 sales.

On the standalone side of things: it’s uncertain how many Meta Quest 2 headsets have sold to date, however data obtained from independent analyst IDC maintains it reached around three million in sales in the first quarter since launch in 2020.

IDC further claims Quest 2 has already reached 14.8 million units sold as of June 2022. Standalone headsets present the best-case scenario for headset sales right now since they include onboard processing, giving you everything you need in one box.

Want to learn more about PSVR 2? Check out our detailed hands-on with the headset, and some of the top titles coming to the headset including Resident Evil Village and Horizon Call of the Mountain.

PlayStation VR 2 Launching Early 2023, Sony Confirms

From roadtovr

Sony confirmed today that its latest VR headset, PSVR 2, will see a release date in 2023. The company’s brief announcement didn’t include a price for PlayStation VR 2, one of the last pieces of key info that’s still unknown.

Sony today shared one of the last but most important pieces of info regarding PlayStation VR 2… its launch window. The company confirmed today on Instagram (of all places) that the headset’s release date will come in early 2023, but shared absolutely no other info about the headset’s launch.

Granted, we know almost everything there is to know about PSVR 2 by this point, except for its price.

The early 2023 launch window (presumably Q1) is a curious move by Sony. The company has only ever launched major PlayStation hardware in Q3 or Q4, dating all the way back to the original PS1, and including the first PSVR headset.

Our best guess for the move is that Sony is expecting the ongoing global supply chain and inflation issues to cause chaos in the electronics market this holiday, and it doesn’t want to battle other consumer electronics makers on price. It’s even possible that the company wasn’t able to secure the components it needed for a Q4 2022 launch, forcing it to delay to Q1 2023.

In any case, we finally have an idea of when PlayStation VR 2 will launch… and it will be more than six years since the original headset’s release.

Sony is promising that PSVR 2 will offer an innovative VR experience with many features not currently found in other consumer headsets, like eye-tracking, HDR, head-haptics, and advanced trigger haptics. Check out our breakdown of PlayStation VR 2 specs to learn everything we know about the headset and how it compares to the original PSVR.