Who says new generation of consoles also says brand new VR headset for Sony, which invites us to discover the PS VR 2 from the beginning of next year.
[Mis à jour le 23 juillet 2022 à 10h35] First unveiled at CES 2022, the PS VR 2 has long been shy in the first half of 2022. Sony’s newest virtual reality headset has only made brief appearances, cultivating fan curiosity before what was expected to be a big presentation event. However, Sony took everyone by surprise by announcing the date or rather the release range of its next little toy at midnight sharp on Tuesday. The PS VR 2 will therefore arrive at the beginning of 2023, and may well revolutionize the way we enjoy the game in virtual reality. We will explain everything to you.
The technical characteristics of the Playstation VR 2
Sony’s conference at CES 2022 taught us a little more about the specifics of the Playstation VR 2 (that’s its official name). This new VR headset will offer a very high-end experience thanks to its 4K HDR OLED screens (2000×2040 per eye) that can reach a display frequency of 120 Hz and offer a 110° field of vision. A step forward compared to the first Playstation VR headset released in 2016, which offers a resolution and a display twice lower, but also compared to its biggest competitor on the market: the Oculus Quest 2.
In terms of functionality, the Playstation VR 2 will benefit from some technological innovations such as user eye tracking which will notably allow foveal rendering technology to optimize image quality where the player is looking. For the controllers, the haptic feedback so dear to the DualSense controllers of the Playstation 5 will also be integrated on the Playstation VRSense to greatly improve in-game immersion. The entire headset will be equipped with a vibration system offering the player a more “visceral” than ever. Note that the Playstation VR 2 will not be wireless but connected to your game console by a USB type-C cable.
Horizon on Playstation VR 2?
In addition to announcing the technical capabilities of its new virtual reality headset, Sony wanted to address the subject of its catalog of games. It is true that for the moment few major franchises have looked into the fairly closed universe of VR and that triple A titles are rare. Only, this era is over if we are to believe the Japanese manufacturer, which announced the arrival of the Horizon franchise on its new VR system. Through a short video of barely a minute, Jan-Bart Von Beek, one of the directors of Guerrilla Games, announced the release of Horizon: Call of the Mountain. It is a game designed only for virtual reality, set in the world of Horizon, which will allow the player to discover one of its regions. For now, the images are meager, but we can expect a triple A title that will undoubtedly be the flagship of the Playstation VR 2. Watch the teaser for Horizon: Call of the Mountain:
What release date for the Playstation VR 2?
For now, Sony has remained very stingy with information. Despite a release scheduled for early 2023, defining a more precise window will be guesswork. Indeed, the shortage of microcomponents still greatly affects the game console market, and VR headsets are no exception. A situation which makes the year 2022 and the beginning of the year 2023 still very vague, even for a manufacturer of the stature of Sony.
Playstation VR 2 or Oculus Quest 2?
This is a legitimate question for all gamers interested in virtual reality: what is the difference between the Oculus Quest 2 and the Playstation VR 2? We can already situate it with respect to its Facebook counterpart, the Oculus Quest 2. First, know that the Oculus Quest 2 is a wireless headset, unlike the Playstation VR 2 which must be connected to the console by USB-C. Second, the OLED screens of Sony’s future VR headset are superior to the LCDs of the Oculus Quest 2, with a resolution of 2000 x 2040p for each eye against 1832 x 1920p for the Oculus Quest and a refresh rate of 120 Hz. against 90 Hz for the Facebook headset. Unfortunately, the lack of further information on the Playstation VR 2 prevents us from continuing this comparison.