This week at the 2022 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2022, Japanese tech firm Sony Interactive Entertainment fully unveiled the PlayStation virtual reality 2 (PSVR 2) headset with its controllers.
The announcement at the CES event in Las Vegas revealed the next generation of Sony’s VR efforts with a series of hardware and software announcements.
During Sony’s keynote, the firm featured its PSVR 2 headset, Sense controllers, and the accompanying ‘Horizon: Call of the Mountain’ immersive VR experience.
Long-time Sony partners Guerrilla Games and PlayStation subsidiary Firesprite have also teamed up to debut a VR-exclusive experience for the popular Horizon media franchise.
Firesprite is a Liverpool-based software development firm that in 2013, partnered with Sony to create its ‘Playroom’ application that exploited the PlayStation Camera peripheral device to create augmented reality (AR) multiplayer video games.
Following the success of Playroom for the PlayStation Camera, Firesprite soon began working on ‘Playroom VR’ to show off the power of the first PSVR release.
With Horizon: Call of the Mountain, Firesprite will be moving away from Playroom’s short mini-game experiences to focus on creating an immersive, story-based VR experience – with help from Guerrilla Games.
Created for PlayStation’s Next-Gen VR hardware, we’re proud to reveal this upcoming unique experience.
With the hardware’s new controllers and incredible built-in visuals, Horizon Call of the Mountain will allow you to interact with the world around you in a brand new way.
— Guerrilla (@Guerrilla) January 5, 2022
The upcoming experience will showcase the power of the new PSVR 2 device and how it can enhance the PlayStation 5 VR in a year of the console’s initial release date.
PSVR 2, Specifications, Features, and What to Expect
Days before CES 2022, Extended Reality (XR) Commentator and Analyst Brad Lynch, took to Twitter and revealed that Chinese tech firm Goertek will manufacture Sony’s PSVR 2 components.
Goertek is a key player in the XR market and the hardware manufacturer is currently in a partnership with Meta to assist with the development of the highly-anticipated Project Cambria VR headset. On top of this, the Chinese firm is also assisting Apple and Pico with each company’s XR device ambitions.
Additionally, Goertek teamed up with Qualcomm in July last year for the latter’s Snapdragon Spaces XR Developer Platform to facilitate accessible, cross-platform content creation, allowing Sony to build a strong foundation for its hardware and VR experiences.
Late last year, documents also emerged on the new features of Sony’s PSVR 2 controllers. At the time, the reports teased fans with features such as adaptive triggers and finger touch detection, but now, Sony has revealed the PSVR 2 kit is all its glory.
PSVR 2 Headset Specifications
To match the ground-breaking graphical fidelity seen in Sony’s PlayStation 5 gaming console, the PSVR 2 device will use the latest VR hardware to enhance immersion on its flagship console.
Sony’s PSVR 2 headset contains an OLED display that relays visuals to the user at an impressive 2000×2040 resolution per eye.
In addition, the highly-detailed display offers an overall 4K resolution, a 110-degree field of view, variable 90Hz/120Hz refresh rate, headset haptics, and a built-in microphone, and other features.
Sony is also continuing to innovate by introducing exciting new sensory features to the VR headset, including four tracking cameras for advanced eye-tracking to convert user’s eye movement into in-game inputs.
Additionally, Sony is including its Tempest 3D AudioTech spatial audio system that surrounds the user in immersive audio to further heighten player immersion.
PSVR 2 Sense Controllers Specifications
Sony’s PSVR 2 headset is leaps and bounds ahead of its predecessor, and to match this, the firm has updated its VR controllers to create the most accessible and immersive VR input device.
The new controllers will contain built-in haptic feedback, finger touch detection, as well as a familiar seven-button layout.
The PSVR 2 built-in cameras will assist with tracking the Sense Controllers by using an accurate ‘DetectionIR LED’ detection system and Bluetooth’s version 5.1 device communication technology.
Sony’s PSVR 2 Vision
During the CES 2022 keynote, Sony did not announce an official release date for the VR device, but with new VR/AR headsets on the way from Apple, Meta, Pico, Microsoft, HTC VIVE, Varjo, and many others, it may face stiff competition this year.
Sony’s device should find a home with console gamers seeking a VR gaming experience comparably between a Meta Quest 2 and a powerful PCVR device.
Currently, the PlayStation digital storefront does not contain many enterprise-grade applications or a Horizon Worlds-style Metaverse, but may provide more PSVR 2 details in the future.
Sony noted in 2008 Sony it had launched a pre-Metaverse experience called “Playstation Home” for PS3 users.
The news comes after Sony announced that it will start rolling out PSVR 2 controller prototypes to select third-party developers in the future to assist with content and app creation on the platform.
