Today, on the one year anniversary of the release of PSVR 2, Sony announced it’s testing PC VR compatibility for PSVR 2, with plans to release some form of PC support for the headset this year.

In a blog post commemorating the one year anniversary of PSVR 2, Sony highlighted upcoming content soon to launch on the headset. But hidden away in that post was a statement we weren’t expecting:

“Also, we’re pleased to share that we are currently testing the ability for PSVR 2 players to access additional games on PC to offer even more game variety in addition to the PSVR 2 titles available through PS5. We hope to make this support available in 2024, so stay tuned for more updates,” the company said.

Fans of PSVR 1 and PSVR 2 have been asking for PC VR support for years, so why now?

Well, it will surely be argued that Sony is simply following its trend of embracing a cross-platform audience. The company has brought some of its biggest franchises—like God of War and Horizon—to PC, and on Steam of all places. But we’ve got a strong feeling this move is about something more than that.

It seems Sony is acknowledging (and attempting to dampen) the feeling of many that PSVR 2 just doesn’t have a particularly exciting game catalogue right now. The majority of the PSVR 2 content library is already available on other headsets (and in many cases has been for some time), while the bulk of the platform’s exclusive content consists of VR ports of non-VR titles, which lack the same appeal as built-for-VR content. PSVR 2 is also missing lots of ‘non-game’ VR content—like art tools, immersive videos, and ‘edutainment’ content—as well as key social VR platforms like VRChat and Rec Room.

The original PSVR had built up a respectable catalogue and enjoyed a handful of acclaimed exclusive VR titles from first-party Sony studios. But without backwards compatibility, that library was completely abandoned with the release of PSVR 2. And since its release, PSVR 2 seemingly hasn’t been backed by the company with the same level of enthusiasm or investment in content.

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We’re glad PSVR 2 will support PC VR content. That’s great for consumers, and for people who already own both a PS5 and a gaming PC, it’ll make PSVR 2 a more compelling choice for a VR headset. But it’s not exactly a proper fix for the real issue facing the headset. The $550 headset already requires a $500 PS5 to use… and if owners want to use it for PC VR content, they’ll need a ~$1,000 gaming PC too.

The only real fix is much more aggressive content curation and investment for the PSVR 2 library, including real support from first-party studios.

– – — – –

So let’s talk about the technical details… or the lack thereof. Sony’s statement about PSVR 2 support for PC is vague at best. It’s also somewhat strangely worded (but we hope that’s not to hide and weird caveats). Here’s some key things we don’t yet know:

  • Is this ‘direct’ support (ie: PSVR 2 plugs directly into a PC)? Or will it be a streaming solution that still requires a PS5?
  • Will it support SteamVR, OpenVR, and/or OpenXR?

We’ve reached out to Sony for clarification.

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Ben Lang
Ben is the world's most senior professional analyst solely dedicated to the XR industry, having founded Road to VR in 2011—a year before the Oculus Kickstarter sparked a resurgence that led to the modern XR landscape. He has authored more than 3,000 articles chronicling the evolution of the XR industry over more than a decade. With that unique perspective, Ben has been consistently recognized as one of the most influential voices in XR, giving keynotes and joining panel and podcast discussions at key industry events. He is a self-described "journalist and analyst, not evangelist."
  • lujho

    I would bet it’s absolutely a streaming solution that requires a PS5. Anyone who’s followed the iVRy driver development knows that direct support cannot be achieved on most PCs without an adapter that you can’t even buy anymore.

    • incubeezer

      A new adapter for PC from Sony seems most likely to me

      • Brian Elliott Tate

        If I had to guess, it will most likely be an app you run on PS5.

      • Andrew Jakobs

        Well, they did provide a free aux-to-USB3 adapter, when the PS5 was released, for connecting the camera to the PS5 (or PC). So maybe they’ll have an USBC(DP)-to-DP adapter.

        • Christian Schildwaechter

          It has to be a USB-C to DP plus USB-3 Y-adapter, simply because USB-C ports capable of DP-alt mode carrying both DP and USB only ever got popular on laptops. It may need some active components to somehow translate the DP/USB-3 protocols, as the USB-C Alt modes redefine the purpose of the different data lines, so a purely mechanical adapter probably won’t do. It still shouldn’t be too expensive for Sony to provide such an adapter.

          • BazookaBen

            That would clearly be the best solution, so I hope Sony does it.

        • lujho

          They was so you could use the PSVR on *their* product. They’re not going to release a whole new physical product so you can use it on a *PC* out of the goodness of their hearts.

          If it’s an app that runs of the PS5, it will at sell a few PS5s.

    • STL

      I thought the same. Still have that Virtual Link adapter laying around. An incomplete solution.

    • That’d make no sense and would be much harder to implement, and the end result is guaranteed to be subpar due to all kinds of translation layers and latencies and all.

    • Christian Schildwaechter

      What seems more likely?

      1) Sony enabling PSVR2 owners to stream PCVR games from a PC over the PS5 to PSVR2, allowing users to buy games on Steam, depriving Sony of its share from PS5 software sales. Because console gamers didn’t really buy the hardware for it’s plug’n’play nature, and instead regularly also own and configure PCVR capable PCs, so enabling PCVR streaming via PS5 will sell more PSVR2???

      2) Sony enabling PSVR2 to be used with a PC directly, still allowing users to buy games on Steams, but at least leading to PC users also buying the PSVR2 as a VR HMD, generating profits for Sony due to low PSVR2 production costs. And maybe even enticing AAA developers to release more hybrid games for PS5/PSVR2, as these rely on ETFR for performance, which so far don’t easily translated to PCVR due to the lack of eye tracking in the commonly used HMDs. If PSVR2 becomes a popular PC HMD, this broadens the market for hybrid games, with extra development making PS5/PSVR2 itself more attractive, on top of the extra money from PC PSVR2 sales.

  • another juan

    Weird: how is Sony expecting to profit from selling subsidized hardware for another ecosystem? Maybe they want to get rid of surplus inventory?

    • MosBen

      Are we sure that the PSVR is subsidized? While consoles themselves are usually subsidized, accessories, controllers, etc. are usually fairly profitable.

      • Christian Schildwaechter

        It depends. PSVR2 consists of a 2K OLED display, a simple SoC with some RAM/flash, Fresnel lenses, a USB-C cable and Touch controllers. The only “extra” are better haptics using LRA (Linear Resonant Actuator)/VCM (Voice Coil Motor) instead of ERM (Eccentric Rotating Mass) motors. But with ERM selling for less than USD 0.50, I doubt the LRAs cost 10x that.

        I created a PSVR2 BOM by analogy and came to less than USD 250, and teardowns confirmed the hardware is very simple. So it is very sure that PSVR2 hardware isn’t subsidized, as in Sony doesn’t lose money on it. Instead there is a rather healthy margin, each new sale would add some profit.

        But a product must also back the development and marketing costs. And the lower the unit sales, the more each individual device has to make, leading to very high margins for professional VR equipment like Tobii’s eye tracking modules, causing a lot of misunderstanding about the “cost of eye tracking”. If Sony sold 1mn PSVR2 with a healthy profit of USD 200 each, that’s USD 200mn for all development, licensing, setup and marketing costs. Not a lot for a consumer mass market product, about what MRL burns through in one week.

        So PSVR2 is possibly still subsidized when including all costs, simply due to low unit sales, which would improve with additional sales for PCVR.

        • MosBen

          Including the R&D in the over cost of a product is fine, but that’s not what OP was talking about. They asked how Sony expected to make a profit selling subsidized hardware in another ecosystem, implying that the PSVR is like a console where the manufacturer takes no profit or a loss on selling the hardware with the expectation that they’ll make it back in software sales in their walled ecosystem. If Sony is making a profit on each PSVR unit sold then that falls apart, especially since these PC sales aren’t going to cannibalize sales to PS5 owners that might actually buy games from the PS5 store.

          • Christian Schildwaechter

            Console hardware selling at loss and making back the money with software has been a myth for about a decade. It happened in earlier console generations with expensive special hardware. PS2 sold a lot in Japan as the cheapest BluRay Player. PS3 came with the extremely powerful Cell processor and ran Linux, leading to cheap PS3 clusters. The US Air Force “Condor Cluster” with 1760 PS3 became the 33rd fastest supercomputer in 2010.

            By now gaming consoles are basically PCs, mobile consoles basically smartphone/tablets or PCs too, and sell above production cost. Some only slightly above, but the days of consumer electronics increasing losses the more hardware they sell are over. Some like Nintendo never sold at loss.

            Zuckerberg/Carmack stated several times that Quest sold mostly at cost, some HMDs slightly below/above. They’d probably get in trouble for anticompetitive behavior when selling significantly below costs, while eating research, development and marketing cost is legally fine. Hardware subsidization is mostly irrelevant today, not pricing in development (to be made back with software) for complex devices at low unit sales the real issue.

    • Leisure Suit Barry

      PSVR2 is obviously sold at a profit as there is not processing, battery, audio etc.

      • VR5

        There is processing, all the tracking is done onboard. Basically it includes the breakout box in the HMD (for reprojection), with more tasks to tackle as well (eye tracking, position tracking with markerless random surfaces, controller tracking).

        • Leisure Suit Barry

          The breakout box for PSVR1 wasn’t for reprojection, it was for 3D audio and sending the signal to the TV in parallel to the headset

          Quest 3 has an actual SOC, hard drive, battery, built in audio etc and is still cheaper than PSVR2. PSVR2 is being sold at a profit.

          • VR5

            The breakout box does reprojection and so does PSVR2. You can easily prove that by hooking up a HDMI source that is not a Playstation and it positions the screen in fixed 3dof space. That is reprojecting the screen on a sphere surface.

            You need to take the retailers’ margins (~30%) into account as well. The profit (unless purchased directly from Sony) is likely very small.

            I agree that the PSVR2 probably isn’t sold at a loss but if you compare it to PC headsets it has more features for a lower price.

          • Leisure Suit Barry

            Quest 3 is a PCVR headset and can be used stand alone, has mixed reality, wireless, pancake lenses, higher resolution RBG sub-pixel displays, built in audio . . . yet you say PSVR2 has more features for a lower price.

            Has everyone gone crazy?

          • VR5

            Quest 3 is a standalone first. I obviously meant PC only headsets. Sure if you include standalone headsets, I need to use the modifier “most”. But it was implicit that I was excluding it.

          • Leisure Suit Barry

            PC only headsets? Well that excludes PSVR2 then, what are we doing here?

            It’s like saying PSVR2 is the best headset available for $550 excluding all other headsets under $550,PSVR2 wins by default

          • VR5

            I was comparing not with one (the best) but with the wider group of contenders, and I was limiting it to devices that require hardware to actually render the VR content, which excludes standalones.

            Obviously the Quest family is overall the best choice for PCVR. But some people don’t want to buy Meta products, or want a wired headset without encoding (which the PSVR2 might not actually be for PCVR, if it turns out to be a streaming solution), or they might fancy the ETFR and OLED. PSVR2 isn’t as cheap as the Quest 2/3 for what it offers but it is cheap compared to PC only headsets.

            Now can you stop being obtuse and butt hurt because I pointed out the PSVR2 has processing. That was just plain wrong.

          • Christian Schildwaechter

            The breakout box helps with 120Hz display, used in reprojection, but doesn’t do the reprojection. Reprojection is done on the GPU, and cheap, as it takes the last rendered frame still stored as a texture mapped onto a pane, and slightly shifts and rotates that pane to match changes in perspective due to head movement. This operation doesn’t require additional rendering and is basically free on a GPU. Moving it to external hardware would require reading the image into a frame buffer of an additional GPU, then performing the shift/rotation there, and outputting it again, adding latency and cost for no gain.

            The different display on different HDMI devices is due to the PS4 rendering different views for them. Every HDMI device has a unique EDID (Extended Display Identification Data) it transmits during resolution negotiation. So the console knows whether you connected a PSVR1 or a TV, and accordingly generates a stereoscopic 6DoF image or a fixed perspective. EDID spoof adapters allow to e.g. run Windows headless, and were used to run DIY HMDs with Oculus software that checked for the EDID of DK1.

          • VR5

            While the USB of the breakout box needs to be connected to the PS4 (or a spoof), the HDMI input can be a Switch for example and it renders the cinema screen just the same as the PS4 signal (same is true for PSVR2 and PC input). So the onboard processing definitely does render the reprojected image (without any involvement of the Playstation console, unless you want to claim it sends image data back and forth over USB in addition to HDMI). If it does this anyway (without noticable latency), I would assume it does the same for the fullscreen/VR view.

            The point of reprojection is to reflect head movement at high frame rate even if the GPU can’t render that many new frames. So a stale frame is reprojected for the slightly changed head direction. Sending back the head rotation and having the PS4 internally render 120 fps even if only 60 are new ones seems like a bad solution when your headset can evidently do the reprojection itself. Do you have any proof that any reprojection is done on the console (for PS4, or PS5)?

          • Christian Schildwaechter

            HMDs can be connected as “dumb” displays, e.g. Pico Neo 3 Link uses a separate USB-C port/DP decoder, as the XR2 cannot “read” DP. The PSVR2 custom SoC needs at least a tiny GPU with a decoder for USB-C DP-Alt, allowing for basic reprojection with shift/rotate operations. A fixed, perspectively correct “flat” Switch view requires applying a pre-distortion shader to the HDMI image to compensate for lens distortion, a (not quite as) cheap GPU operation, and again 3D rotation.

            “Regular” reprojection/predistortion should still occur on the PS5 GPU, as “modern” reprojection like ASW2/AppSW does more than just shift/rotate, which leads to artifacts with moving objects. And the advanced features are no longer “cheap”, with AppSW taking 30% of full frame compute. PSVR2’s onboard reprojection is probably a fallback (for other HDMI sources), but I cannot tell for sure without someone doing a proper analysis of the resulting images. Similarly a SoC/GPU has to be involved in PSVR1 HDMI decoding, reprojection and pre-distortion. I’d expect (but don’t know) that the breakout box only passes through the HDMI signal and tells PSVR1 what to do with it.

          • VR5

            As I already stated, just like PSVR2 the breakout box of the PSVR can do cinematic screen with HDMI sources other than a PS. That is evident.

            Obviously predistortion is done on the Playstation. But the Quest can do reprojection of Link feeds to have very low latency minor adjustments to the view direction, which are also lense distorted by PC before they are streamed. This helps prevent motion sickness since by the time the Quest receives the feed, it is already up to 50 ms old and was rendered with different head rotation data than when it is received.

            My assumption is, if the PSVR breakout box and the PSVR2 onboard processing can do reprojection anyway it is likely that it is used for the VR signal as well. It being distorted doesn’t mean it cannot be reprojected. And having the additional frames rendered only on the VR hardware frees up the console from needing to render 90 or 120 fps when the point is to only have to render 60 new frames per second.

        • Christian Schildwaechter

          PSVR2 does the room, controller and pupil tracking on board. The first two worked fine on the DSP sub-processor of the 2018 Quest 1 SD835. Eye tracking adds two lowres nIR cameras. 2023 PSVR 2 tracking only requires a cheap SoC, and they need one anyway for handling video, haptics and controllers.

          iFixit posted a teardown and chip identification of PSVR2 (ifixit_com/Guide/PlayStation+VR2+Chip+ID/158337), showing a rather simple HMD and mainboard with 10/10 repair score due to low complexity. Quest Pro and AVP were nightmares to even open due to being crammed full of tech. The SoC is a Sony CXD90067GQ (no information available), clearly a lot smaller than the XR2 Gen 1 in Quest 2.

          The Quest Pro controller uses a midrange SD6xx SoC, kind of overkill and only used because its Hexagon DSP is software compatible with Quest tracking software. Something similar would work for the PSVR2. The specs always hinted PSVR 2 was designed to be cheap to produce, and teardowns confirmed that. There is nothing expensive in there (2GB RAM, 4GB Flash, LED/Power controllers etc.), all the magic (and processing for ETFR) comes from the PS5.

          • So it’s a maybe $30 computing cost on the headset itself vs $300 in the PS5. So you might call it “negligible”.

          • Christian Schildwaechter

            You might. And it’s even cheaper.

            Meta was quite clever to move all the tracking to the otherwise unused DSP, freeing CPU/GPU for applications. On the SD865 the Quest 2 XR2 Gen 1 is based on, the Hexagon DSP takes about 10% of the chip area, and the SoC was about 2x as fast as the SD865 in Quest 1. Qualcomm sold the SD865 for USD 85 in 2019, so the DSP “cost” about USD 8.50. With tracking already working on Quest 1 at half the performance, and the PSVR2 needing a small SoC anyway, “adding” a capable DSP to the SoC would therefore cost only USD 4.25 (in die space).

            Of course Sony may have improved tracking/increased requirements etc., but they also released the HMD four years after Quest 1 and don’t use high margin Qualcomm chips. So unless they invented some secret super neural chips allowing to do the VERY compute expensive motion estimation onboard (without cooking the HMD), instead of delegating it to PS5, the extra cost for PSVR2 tracking compute are negligible at ~1% of the retail price. And the tiny heatsink inside PSVR2 says they haven’t invented those chips yet.

          • VR5

            Obviously the Quest does more processing but the poster I replied to claimed it had NO processing at all.

            What do you mean by processing for ETFR? Obviously the GPU renders the image and scales back resolution in peripheral areas but the information for where the center is comes from the PSVR2. Thanks to that, GPU processing is reduced.

            One of the most expensive components would probably be the custom OLED screens. But the scope of my post wasn’t about cost, it was addressing the claim that it had no processing.

          • Christian Schildwaechter

            Extra processing is needed for motion prediction. Getting the current gaze direction from pupil position is easy, but for ETFR to work we need to predict where gaze will be in the next frame. That is harder than expected due to the eyes moving very fast and making seemingly erratic movements to help with 3D vision, and nifty tricks like refocusing the lenses while moving, with distance estimated from “out of focus” blur.

            Tobii’s PC eye tracking software for HTC Vive Pro Eye runs a “motion estimation” process for ETFR, taking a lot of comptute time with still high latency. Andrew Bosworth etc. stated that ETFR isn’t yet feasible on mobile due to the compute requirements, and on Quest Pro enabling ETFR both drains the battery and prevents apps from running at the highest CPU/GPU performance levels. More details: roadtovr_com/quest-psvr-2-unit-sales-holiday-2023/#comment-6376447109

            Sony designs their own OLED displays and offered 4K phones since 2015. Their 2022 Xperia 1 IV has a 6.5″ 4K 21:9 OLED 643PPI 120Hz display with 10bit HDR, similar to PSVR2 besides aspect ratio/PPI. Replacement screens are sold for USD ~100 on AliExpress.

          • VR5

            Yet the Quest Pro runs on mobile architecture and the power draw wouldn’t be a problem on PSVR2 with the wired 12 volt connection. I guess the prediction could be done on the console side but this also I think we don’t know for sure? Either way, if true that would be one thing that the PSVR2 doesn’t do itself. All the other processing tasks we either know it does itself (position tracking, controller tracking, pupil tracking, cinema screen reprojection) or can reasonably assume it does itself (VR reprojection).

          • Christian Schildwaechter

            PSVR2 mainboard on the left, Quest Pro front/back on the right, red borders for SoCs. The Quest Pro SoC is ~33% larger (area measured on much larger image).

            Delivering power to the PSVR2 isn’t a problem, but removing heat is. The Quest Pro uses a much more elaborate cooler with heat pipes carrying the heat from the SoC to two large fans sitting behind the displays, while PSVR2 uses a regular ripped cooler with a small fan. According to Meta, ETFR on Quest Pro saves 33%-45% performance (~49%-82% FPS incraese), while Sony claims a 72% save (257% FPS increase). Quest Pro apps cannot run at the highest performance level 4 with ETFR enabled.

            Smaller chip, less cooling, but still much higher performance gains from ETFR indicates that (CPU heavy) prediction doesn’t happen on PSVR2, though only Sony can confirm this. All the other compute is cheap(er), with positional, controller and even hand tracking the PSVR2 lacks working on Quest 1 DSP using 1/10th of the SD835 die size.

            https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a137b43f9098b1fbb38cfec32a9b781c6c1633e3a4d09ccb05f37a9952511810.jpg

          • Christian Schildwaechter

            PSVR2 mainboard on the left, Quest Pro on the right, red borders for SoCs. The Quest Pro SoC is ~33% larger (area measured on much larger image).

            Delivering power to the PSVR2 isn’t a problem, but removing heat is. The Quest Pro uses a much more elaborate cooler with heat pipes carrying the heat from the SoC to two large fans sitting behind the displays, while PSVR2 uses a regular ripped cooler with a small fan. According to Meta, ETFR on Quest Pro saves 33%-45% performance (~49%-82% FPS incraese), while Sony claims a 72% save (257% FPS increase). Quest Pro apps cannot run at the highest performance level 4 with ETFR enabled.

            Smaller chip, less cooling, but still much higher performance gains from ETFR indicates that (CPU heavy) prediction doesn’t happen on PSVR2, though only Sony can confirm this. All the other compute is cheap(er), with positional, controller and even hand tracking the PSVR2 lacks working on the Quest 1 DSP using 1/10th of the SD835 die size.

            https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/51a52a281a4459e40175b5ca25294ca53f24aa90b64a2ed9c509006070e2ab8a.jpg

          • VR5

            Quest Pro also does a lot more like rendering high geometry graphics and more operations per pixel, and face tracking. Adding one more computational expensive task isn’t suddenly turning the PSVR2 into a QPro in terms of heat generation. It could go either way; it would certainly be preferable for it to be done on the PSVR2 side. But you’re right in assuming that it might be too much for it to handle.

            Not something we have solid evidence for though so certainty cannot be assumed.

          • Leisure Suit Barry

            The cost from going from LCD to OLED is not that great.

            The manufacture cost of an iPhone Retina OLED display is about $80.

          • XRC

            My Crystal has a specific Tobii hardware component for ETFR, which identifies as “Eyechip” when software update activated the feature.

            I’m assuming the Sony has similar on the soc.

          • Christian Schildwaechter

            Are you sure it does ETFR, and not just reading the cameras and maybe pupil tracking, to then delegate the ETFR to the PC? The Quest Pro includes a special ASIC just to deal with the extra cameras, as the seven camera interfaces of the XR2+ Gen 1 aren’t enough for all the cameras included. So the ASIC bundles several lowres tracking cameras into a single stream. All the actual calculations were still done on the SoC, and XR2 Gen 2 now connects 10, XR2+ Gen 2 12 cameras.

            The Pimax EyeChip apparently shows up as a USB device on Windows, so it is not connected to one of the camera interfaces on the XR2 in the Crystal. But I’d be very surprised if it really did the compute heavy parts. The Tobii eye tracking runtime should start a platform_runtime_VR4PIMAXP3B_service, and if the compute heavy parts are still performed on the CPU, this should create some noticeable load with ETFR enabled even in an otherwise low performance scene like a mostly black menu.

          • XRC

            Thanks for your explanation, I’m not sure exactly how it all works but remember seeing a hardware component called “Tobii eye tracking module” inside the headset during a teardown.

            Would be interesting to see the load on the CPU when it’s working, compared to switched off.

  • Leisure Suit Barry

    Sony said they had 2M headsets for the launch period, a year later and current estimates are 1.3M sold, so this is probably about getting rid of stock and essentially saying we are not going to make any 1st party games for it so enjoy it on PC.

    Problem is there are far better PCVR headsets available like the Quest 3.

    • VR5

      I don’t think we got official word for those production numbers; they could still be accurate, just no confirmation from Sony themselves.

    • STL

      Name one, please. I hate the Quest 3.

      • Andrew Jakobs

        Because you hate the Quest 3 doesn’t mean it isn’t a better headset. No wire is already one reason why it’s better, I so hate a wire.

        • STL

          I tried the air link, but it is nor stable. Yes, the wire is a big turn-off. But keeping the VR headset in a stable and comfortable position is difficult, even with BoboVR and a new facial.
          Comparing subjective impressions with objective facts doesn‘t make sense in my world. Of course it is a better headset but I still hate it.

          • Leisure Suit Barry

            Without the Globular Cluster, PSVR2 is even worse, especially given that any slight movement and the sweet spot is lost

          • GunnyNinja

            Try Virtual Desktop. Really helps if you have fast internet to your PC and strong wifi. I solved this problem with a TP Link Deco system. Ethernet to PC with wifi in the same room. All from a wifi mesh system downstairs. There is no ethernet to that room. The PC doesn’t know it’s getting wifi.

          • STL

            Well, thanks. There are many TP Link Deco flavors. Are you using AX3000?

          • GunnyNinja

            Exactly right. X55.

          • STL

            Thank you! I had the D-Link DWA-F18 – VR Air Bridge, but while I have to admit it works, well, somehow, it is giving the game Skyrim VR (Steam VR) a shaky appearance at high resolutions. I don’t see that with the cable, so I’m willing to try alternatives.

          • GunnyNinja

            Before, I would get the notification that I am not connected to ethernet. Now it doesn’t know, and speeds are really fast.

          • shadow9d9

            So, you tried the worst of 3 options. Bobo isn’t the end all. It is simply the most parroted. Those people aren’t trying multiple straps.

        • I’m sorry but the quality of gaming wireless with a 7800x3d/4090fe pc on the quest 3 is total crap

          • Andrew Jakobs

            Then you’re doing something really wrong.

          • Yup, limiting the bandwidth of the connection to wireless speeds. Even quest 3 over USB-C uses compression. And this is for wireless connection in a small manhattan studio. So no walls in the way to block signals

      • Leisure Suit Barry

        Pimax Crystal

        • Christian Schildwaechter

          Technically true, and apparently the Crystal even gets a decent performance boost from ETFR thanks to the integrated eye tracking. But this “better” comes at a price, it’s 3x as expensive as the PSVR2, itself not considered cheap. And with 2880×2880 per eye, you’ll also need a rather fast PC and expensive GPU to drive it, even with ETFR.

          The PSVR2 might find a PC niche as the cheapest VR HMD with eye tracking, and with its 2000×2040 per eye resolution, just half the pixel count of the Crystal, it may be well balanced for regular PC gamers. According to the Steam hardware survey, the RTX 3060 is now the most popular GPU, which is close to the PS5 performance, making the PSVR2 plus ETFR pretty much the cheapest way to decent PCVR performance for many, while the cheaper Quest 2 would require a faster GPU to achieve the same. Which might make it a “better PCVR” headset than Quest 2, Quest 3 or Pimax Crystal, at least for those with gaming GPUs at the lower end of PCVR usability and no interest in investing into a new one just for VR.

          • Leisure Suit Barry

            I can’t see many PCVR enthusiasts choosing a wired fresnel headset with a tiny finnicky sweet spot and a 2000×2040 pentile display over other headsets.

          • Christian Schildwaechter

            I can neither, but I can see a number of gamers not yet into VR/enthusiasts picking one up to use with their existing setup, with the option to either get rid of it or buy a PS5 to use it with in case they don’t like the experience. limiting the risk. Hence the “might find a PC niche”.

          • BazookaBen

            I think you’ll be surprised.

            OLED, HDR, eye tracked foveated rendering at $550 is a pretty big deal.

            I’ve been holding on to my Samsung Odyssey HMD simply because I’m not willing to give up OLED

          • Leisure Suit Barry

            People screaming OLED OLED OLED . . . PSVR1 and Quest 1 were OLED and nobody gave AF.

            Also I I think you’ll be disappointed when you try PSVR. Tiny sweet spot, mura and persistence and everything outside of the small sweet spot is blurry

          • GunnyNinja

            OLED with SDE is not the same. It’s 2024.

          • Leisure Suit Barry

            Well PSVR2 still has SDE because of the pentile display and relatively low 18ppd, which is lower than Quest 2

          • shadow9d9

            Pretty much only 3 games use foveated rendering on pcvr. Not even VR chat uses eye tracking natively.

            And Pancake clarity is the game changer for vr, not oled.

          • XRC

            There is a list of about 40 tested PCVR games working with dynamic foveated rendering for Crystal, mix of openVR and openXR titles. One particular tool “Almalence digital lens software” is only working in openXR titles, and “Quad Views rendering ” is limited to DCS World and Pavlov.

          • STL

            OLED is the real thing, yes.

          • shadow9d9

            On horribly old fresnel with tiny sweet spot and horrendous sde. You clearly haven’t tried pancakes. That is the VR gamechanger, not oled.

          • GunnyNinja

            If it can handle MSFS, I would.

          • Leisure Suit Barry

            That makes no sense, it’s up to the PC if it can handle a game, not the headset

          • GunnyNinja

            The headset is what determines if the PC can push it. The PC that I have running an i9 10850 and 4080 can give good results with the G2 but not with the Quest 3. Which has lower specs. What the hmd needs is what matters. If the PSVR2 doesn’t have the right PC connection, it won’t matter what my PC can do. MSFS isn’t like other VR games. People struggle to get 40fps with a 4090.

          • Arno van Wingerde

            Not quite… the foveated rendering of the PSVR2, where only the details in the centre of your view are rendered, leaving the surrounding part blurry, which is not noticeable because the thing is faster than your eyes move. Wehre foveated rendering is supported, for the same resolution a graphics card with PSVR2 only has to do less half the job.

          • Leisure Suit Barry

            What games on PC support eye tracked foveated rendering?

          • Christian Schildwaechter

            1943 Berlin Blitz, A Walk in the Woods, Aircar, ALTDEUS Beyond Chronos, Amid Evil VR, Arizona Sunshine, Assetto Corsa, Boneworks, Castle Rock Beach, West Australia, Contractors, Crossfire Sierra Squad, Elite Dangerous, Fallout 4 VR, Grand Theft Auto 5 (GTAV), Great Paintings VR, Grimlord, Guildford Castle VR, Half Life: Alyx, IL Divino Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel, Into the Radius, iRacing, Kayaka VR: Mirage, Legendary Tales, Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond, Nature Treks VR, Project Demigod, Project Wingman, Propagation VR, Propagation: Paradise Hotel, Sairento VR, Serious Sam Fusion (SS1, 2, 3 and BFE), Skyrim VR, Subnautica, Superhot VR, SURV1V3, Talos Principle, Thrill of the Fight, TWD: Saints and Sinners Chapter 1&2, Until you Fall, Vengeful Rights, Versailles VR The Palace is Yours, X Rebirth VR, Zero Caliber

            From the Pimax Crystal DFR/ETFR compatibility list. I have no idea if this is up to date, it was released six months ago with some updates since then. docs_google_com/spreadsheets/d/16GNwXAVCjUF9vCW6ubiUPQT00hZ7hRT5K_sbO6P9nYc/edit#gid=0

        • STL

          Thank you. Got to try it.

      • GunnyNinja

        I don’t think that’s how this works. I have a G2 and I exclusively use my Q3 now. I hate flying, but it’s still the best way to get around the world.

    • Mike

      The PSVR 2 seems to be one of the best OLED VR headsets. Though I haven’t tried it yet.

      • ViRGiN

        AFAIK unlike PSVR1, PSVR2 uses Pentile.
        The best visuals are probably on AVP.

        • VR5

          PSVR1 was full RGB pixels, which they heavily advertised. It did look better than the Rift despite it having slightly higher resolution or even than the GearVR with a 3K screen, and it had better FoV than the Rift as well.

          For PSVR2 the pentile isn’t that noticable anymore with the higher resolution, it’s mostly the lenses which negatively impact IQ.

      • VR5

        Well there aren’t many OLED headsets anymore so yeah, it beats those older ones. LCD is the superior screen type for VR though which is why most stopped using OLED.

        • Mike

          LCD is not superior. It’s cheaper. It cannot come close to the contrast and black levels of OLED. Those are crucial for immersion – especially in dark environments.

          • Christian Schildwaechter

            LCD is not only cheaper, it is brighter, because it is much easier to crank up the white backlight of an LCD than getting RGB OLED to emit more light. And being brighter has become critical with pancake lenses that create a longer optical path through internal reflections/refractions with polarizing lens coatings, but loose about 90% of the light in the process. Current MicroOLED like in the AVP work differently, using white OLED backlights with RGB filters like LCD, paired with lenses focusing the light in one direction for higher efficiency, which makes using them with pancakes feasible.

          • Mike

            LCD can be brighter, and you have a good point about pancake lenses. But I’ve always found OLED VR headsets to be as bright as I want, since VR is the equivalent of being in a room with no lights. And the Bigscreen Beyond uses pancake lenses with OLED, and its maximum brightness setting is plenty bright (though the fan noise can get annoying).

          • Christian Schildwaechter

            The “best” display and lens tech depends somewhat on individual preference/sensitivity. Some people can’t handle long persistence, some hate godrays, can’t stand mura or really need blacks to be black. I thought the 60Hz 640×800/eye LCD in DK1 was fine, have been happy with improvements, care more about use cases and am still okay with everything.

            Beyond uses microOLED, not an OLED (panel) like PSVR2, which work quite differently. OLED panels consist of lots of individually controlled, self-emitting R, G or B OLED radiating in all directions. Okay for Fresnel or aspheric lenses, but most of the light never makes it to the lens, let alone through it with pancakes. Light guided from a backlight through color filters results in a smaller viewing angle on LCD panel phones, but more enters the lens in HMDs. microOLED have backlights of individually controlled white OLED (RBG soon), sending light in one direction through fixed color filters topped with tiny collimating lenses, making it more directional/less lossy/look brighter in an HMD, despite both OLED panels and microOLED using similar bright OLED.

          • VR5

            I said for VR. When playing to its strength, OLED is too persistent which results in motion blur/sickness. Avoiding motion sickness is more important than slight improvements of colors and contrast. LCD is hardly terrible in that regard.

          • Christian Schildwaechter

            The reason why HTC Vive and Rift CV1 used OLED was actually that persistence on OLED was LOWER, because the single elements can be switched on much faster than the filters on LCD can react. But over time we got much faster switching LCD panels that could also be used for low persistence. And at some point the initial advantage OLED had was no longer relevant, and the lower brightness and density became a disadvantage compared to LCD.

            This (and cost) caused HMDs to switch, esp. since the higher brightness LCD now allows for even shorter persistence than on OLED, even though OLED can still switch on and off much faster. The remaining advantage of OLED is the much better contrast due to single pixel actually being able to be turned off instead of a filter trying to lower the brightness of the backlight like on LCD.

          • VR5

            They achieved lower persistence on LCD by using a stroboscope effect on the backlight. Once they figured that out, OLED fell behind LCD in persistence.

          • Mike

            That’s not an inherent limitation of OLED – it depends on the particular display. I’ve never had an issue with persistence or motion sickness with any of the OLED headsets I’ve tried, from the Oculus DK2 to the Vive to the Odyssey, Bigscreen… etc.

          • VR5

            Not everyone gets sick (I don’t) but I noticed ghosting on all OLED devices in dark scenes (where the OLED does its job, presenting true blacks). So in the rare situation where OLED shines, it also shows a distracting flaw, the bright contours smearing as you move your head. Not worth it.

            And if you’re selling a device that costs hundreds of dollars, having a non-negligible amount of customers getting sick, returning their device and spreading bad word of mouth isn’t exactly favorable for growing your platform. This isn’t sickness from artificial locomotion but sickness from just using the HMD even with room scale movement or just looking around.

          • Mike

            The ghosting you’re describing is called “black smear”. I’ve only seen it on one headset – the Odyssey(+). Other OLED headaets prevent it by slightly limiting black levels. It can be prevented in the same way on the Odyssey(+) through software – OpenVR Advanced Settings lets you switch on a customizable color overlay, which works well to slightly limit black levels to-taste and prevent black smear.

          • VR5

            As I said, I noticed it in all OLED headsets I used, Gear VR, Rift, Quest 1. Maybe not in PSVR and 2, but I think that is due to me not playing anything in those headsets which had this particular situation. They all have persistence issues.

            The motion sickness case is more problematic though. Just because you and me don’t get sick from it doesn’t mean it’s a good idea to lock out a part of your audience for no good reason other than to stubbornly insist that only OLED has perfect blacks. Chasing perfection is futile, it’s better to go for overall best.

          • Mike

            You see “black smear” in all those? I never caught the slightest hint in any except Odyssey.

            Most people I’ve heard complain about motion sickness had it resolved by higher refresh rates, or they get motion sickness in real life from the things they’re doing in VR.

            I never said “perfect blacks” matters much. The Odyssey has perfect blacks, but the “very good” blacks on other OLED headsets are all I want. There’s a VERY WIDE gulf between that and all current LCD headsets. Dark and dim scenes look grey, like looking at a cheap laptop LCD screen strapped to your face. Ruins the sense of presence. The only acceptable LCD VR I’ve seen was on the Vive Pro 2, because of its auto-adjusting backlight. But it was ruined by absurdly-low binocular overlap.

          • VR5

            There’s a black and white walking simulator app on Gear VR, ported to PC, S.E.N.S VR. I saw it in that on Gear VR and Rift. In my own game at night the stars would smear on Quest 1. Both cases there is true black contrasted with true white. As for PSVR2, after my last post I tried moving my head playing a game in cinema mode. Motion blur was immediately noticable as I paid attention to it. Easier to ignore/overlook as in the b/w app but it is an easily ascertained flaw on all OLED screens.

            I don’t mind it as I hardly ever notice it. Same for supposedly grey scenes. You seem to pick and choose, both are flaws, both are miniscule. But I noticed the ghosting on OLED without it being pointed out to me. A lot of people get VR (or other things) spoiled by internet sources highlighting flaws hardly anyone would normally ever care about.

            Motion sickness caused by motion blur is a huge problem the higher the price of the hardware. Apple not wanting their customers to do active VR on AVP is likely also due to this.

          • Mike

            Well I’ve never tried the Quest 1 or the PSVR2.

            Sounds like the Quest 1 was similar to the Odyssey – true blacks, with black smear if not using using OpenVR software correction.

            I’ve never noticed black smear or motion blurWell I’ve never tried the Quest 1 or the PSVR2.

            Sounds like the Quest 1 was similar to the Odyssey – true blacks, with black smear if not using using OpenVR software correction.

            I’ve never noticed black smear or motion blur in any but the Odyssey. I wonder if that specific game you were looking at causes it independently of the hardware.

            I did a side by side comparison of the Vive Pro vs the Pimax 5K+. The difference in immersion from near-blacks and high contrast vs gray and low contrast – I couldn’t go back. Same reason people pay thousands of dollars for a high-end OLED TV rather than a few hundred for an LCD at the same resolution and size.

      • shadow9d9

        It is fresnel…so, really outdated.

        • Mike

          Those just became commercially available in headsets like a year ago.

      • STL

        I can confirm this. Had PSVR, then PSVR2, then Quest 3. Colors at PSVR2 are vivid, Quest 3 is pale, compared to it.

        • Mike

          Right, because Quest 3 is LCD.

  • Brian Elliott Tate

    Sony didn’t “Acknowledge a Weak Game Library” in any way in that blog post, that’s an odd / misleading title for this article.

    • PerpetuallySkeptical

      Yeah it read like a cheap shot and made me chuckle. The whole PC vs console thing is dumb but I guess it drives engagement in the comment section.

    • STL

      Why acknowledging the obvious?

      • I’d take GT7 VR over all those arcade cr@p on the Quest any day.

        • STL

          Yes, if that’s your cup of tea. I don‘t like climbing, driving and horror. I like adventure.

        • shadow9d9

          I have no interest in racing games or reprojection with blur on a wired headset with tiny sweet spot. I own a psvr 2, but it sits unused.

          • Arno van Wingerde

            Sell it to somebody who would appreciate it. I agree that the PSVR2+PS5 that I tried had very annoying aspects, like cable, silly requirements for a monitor, no build in sound other than earplugs, small sweet spot. But it also had amazing colors, haptics, and a small number of games that beats almost anything available for Quest stand alone. I would consider rebuying the combo for the views during CotM alone!

      • Brian Elliott Tate

        Not sure what you mean. I was saying it seemed like Road to VR was spreading false information by saying Sony in any way acknowledged anything about having a weak library. All they did was announce an extra feature they were working on.

    • GunnyNinja

      Why would they? The writing is on the wall. It was clear that there was interest in using their headset for PCVR. Why not cash in? We buy more VR hardware than PS5 users do.

  • STL

    I own a Quest 3 and had the PSVR 2 before. I sold it on eBay because of the weak game library on PS5. However, the PSVR 2 was a far better headset for games. So as soon as it comes to PC, I might swap again. The colors are better, the FOV is better, the halo headstrap is better. All that.

    • Foreign Devil

      Better than a Quest 2 for sure. .. But better than a Quest 3?

      • STL

        The Quest 3 is great as a standalone with games and apps, but for console or PC games, I prefer the PSVR concept.

    • Andrew Jakobs

      Better fov as the Quest 3?

      • STL

        Both give officially „110 degrees“ as their FOV, but my impression from PSVR2 was much better. Might be related to the different facials.

    • TheAK

      I own a Q3 and PSVR2 as well and I can’t understate how good the pancake lenses are on the Q3, the sweet spot is massive. Puts me off using the PSVR2

      • STL

        But no vivid colors on Q3.

        • shadow9d9

          Nor tons of mura or screen door.

  • Christian Schildwaechter

    PSVR2 hardware sells with significant margin. The specs were low for 2023, and teardowns confirm it must be cheaper to produce than Quest 2. Sony actually stopped subsidizing consoles after PS3, they now make at least some profit. And accessories always make a lot, e.g. the USD 60 Xbox One controller cost USD 15 to produce. With moderate sales on PS5, opening PSVR2 to PC would both bring additional profit and distribute the significant development costs over more units.

    Whether PC users care will depend on what Sony offers. Streaming via PS5 is pointless. And even a direct connection to a PC (with a DP/USB-3 splitter) only gives you a 2K OLED 6DoF tethered HMD with Fresnel lenses, not exactly hot hardware in 2024. What allows the PSVR2/PS5 combo (~RTX 2070 performance) to punch way above its weigh class is ETFR reducing the computational load, using (simple) cameras in PSVR2 and the powerful PS5 APU. This way games like RE4/RE8 can offer VR modes with similar performance requirements as the 4K@60Hz flat version, making it cheaper for AAA to release hybrid games.

    With ETFR support for all PC(VR) games, PSVR2 might be very interesting, as PCVR just gained lots of AAA playable in VR thanks to (very performance hungry) UE PCVR mods. New VR users could have the choice between a USD 500 Quest 3 playing native apps and streaming their games via PCVR (mods), probably requiring a GPU upgrade, or a USD 550 PSVR2 playing AAA mods at decent speed with their existing GPU due to ETFR. And Sony wins with each sale.

    • XRC

      ETFR is very impressive, I’m able to run 90hz at full resolution (4312×5104 per eye) in Aircar, without I’m running at 72hz or reducing resolution to about 70% (90hz).

      Would be great to see more eye tracking in headsets to enable developers

      • Christian Schildwaechter

        Maybe Sony had expected ETFR to already become standard by 2024, so AAA studios would be more willing to go with their hybrid game strategy, knowing that projects could work in both flat and VR without requiring extensive/expensive changes, and could also be easily ported from PSVR2 to PCVR like on the previous generation.

        So one (far fetched) reason for Sony to enable PSVR2 PC compatibility might be to fill the eye-tracking gap in the cheaper PCVR HMD market. Which currently stands in the way of more AAA getting VR modes due to only the PS5/PSVR2 market currently offering this important performance optimization.

        • XRC

          Alongside the performance benefit of ETFR, I’ve been very impressed with the improvement of optical stability/comfort and reduction of chromatic aberration.

          This is using glass aspherical lenses which have class leading clarity but can cause pupil swim for some as the eye rotates; would be interested to see how ETFR works with the Fresnel lenses of Sony

          ETFR also opens up access to tools like Quad Views rendering, XR toolkit and Almalence digital lens with very useful benefits.

          • Christian Schildwaechter

            There is probably still a lot of room for improvement by making HMDs/software “smarter”. 3D printers for a long time suffered from lots of quality issues despite improving tech, and then made a sudden huge jump in speed and quality by adding IMUs to actually measure the occurring acceleration forces and using that data to calibrate the printer, with cameras now observing the print to recognize errors.

            HMDs are still mostly “dumb” one-size-fits-all device, with headstrap and IPD adjustment pretty much the only ways to adapt the hardware, despite people having very different eyes, head shapes, moving patterns etc. I’d fully expect future HMDs to massively improve both performance and comfort just based on “knowing” the user better based on more/improved sensors and software.

    • Arno van Wingerde

      I was supervised to read that the PSVR2 is actually cheaper in terms of parts than the Quest 2: sure, no computing stuff, but I would guessed that OLED, eye tracking decent strap haptic stuff would more than make up for that.

      • Christian Schildwaechter

        SoC and display are usually the most expensive parts, with huge variations. Qualcomm asks USD 160 for a SD8 Gen 2≈XR2 Gen 2. The 2015 Raspberry Pi Zero, a 65*30mm² fully blown Linux computer (CPU≈1998 Pentium II, GPU≈2001 Xbox) with HDMI/USB, cost USD 5. And everything XR includes some compute, from less than USD 1 (MCU in IMU) to hundreds (AVP M2 + R1).

        OLED adds ~25% compared to LCD, and Sony already sold 4K 120Hz HDR OLED Xperia phones. PSVR2 haptics are based on linear resonance actuators, starting at USD ~3 at Digikey (USD <2 for 5000+), significantly more than "rumble" haptics, but not expensive. The strap shouldn't cost Sony more than a 3rd party Quest strap.

        Tobii's USD 250 pro-market eye tracking modules set the wrong cost expectations. Tracking mostly means processing camera data. Eye tracking IS expensive, but neither the sensor parts (cheap lowres, b/w nIR cameras + LEDs) nor a simple SoC for pupil/gaze tracking are, which a RPi Zero could do. The costly parts are a fast CPU/SoC needed for ETFR motion estimation, and the software, with Tobii hoarding ET patents for 20 years.

        • Arno van Wingerde

          Thanks Christian, that helps me understand Sony’s move better.

  • 3872Orcs

    That is some excellent news! This fixes the biggest issue with PSVR2! I think a lot more people are going to get this now.

  • ViRGiN

    Another PCVR game changer, just after UEVR, WHOAH!

  • mirak

    It will require a PS5, the formulation seems pretty clear.

  • ViRGiN

    Sony statement does not say PCVR even once. It could be just for playing flat games on VR screen.

    • lujho

      That would basically be 2D Steam Link, and there’s no reason that couldn’t run in flatscreen mode so why single out PSVR2?

  • Lucidfeuer

    Talk about too little too late. They want to play greedy with the lack of BC, developed or implemented very little functionality or even titles, they got the failure they deserved.

  • Paul Bellino

    Stop Arguing…. The Valve Deckard will soon be here. The One Headset To Rule Them All.

    • nicki gentry

      unless zuckerburg is purposely trying to sabotage everyone else so that quest doesn’t have competition because he doesn’t want people to buy psvr or valve he wants everyone to buy his headset, so with sony and valve out of the picture people will have to buy quest for vr.

  • They’re basically admitting there is not enough content and there will not be. But the irony is, PCVR has a content problem, too

    • XRC

      And since psvr2 was considered a potential pipeline for high quality games being ported to PCVR….

      • Paul Bellino

        True and instead, we get a bunch of kid friendly Meta games. Ridiculous

    • david vincent

      “PCVR has a content problem too”
      That’s true there are too many games to play since the advent of UEVR.
      But it’s only a rich man’s problem.

      • Paul Bellino

        Very easy solution. Hire guys like Preydog to convert some of your banger titles. If it can be done for Resident Evil it can be done for others as well. Why not Red Dead Redemption 2?

    • Ondrej

      Because this is mostly about VRChat,
      They can’t allow it on PS5 because of crazy UCG, so it’s a workaround.

    • Paul Bellino

      Not at all. Just ask Valve. They are rolling in the Money. You do not know what you are talking about.

    • Amy

      Well they did fire 900 people and shut down the studio in London that made VR games for them.

  • Yeshaya

    Wondering if this is a positive or negative sign towards PSVR2 exclusives eventually going to PCVR. On the one hand it shows a generally willingness to play with others. On the other hand they might say “hey we’re letting you use* this for PCVR, we’re playing nice, just buy a PSVR and that’s all you’ll need”.
    Hopefully they take the same approach as their flatscreen exclusives or 1 or 2 years of PS exclusivity then a PC port.
    I just really want to play Horizon and Resi VR without buying $950 of new hardware

  • david vincent

    Great news, another true PCVR headset with no video compression sh*t

  • this looks like a move they would make before discontinuing the PSvr2. we’ll c how this pan’s out

  • Brettyboy01

    This is great news either way.
    Personally if it is to get more sales of the headset overall then I would suspect that a firmware revision to “unlock” the headsets ability to be recognised on a PC would be a start. A Modder’s Dream come true.
    Sony would then invest with developers on leading PCVR titles to make their titles compatible with the headset and controller configuration overall. Most modern Motherboards and some GPU have USB3 ports so directly connecting the headset to a PC would be the best bet. But if Sony are creating a passthrough Box, then, heads will roll.

    • shadow9d9

      They aren;t even investing in their own system when they make 100% of sales…they are not going to spend way after the fact, just to give 30% to another company. This is pure wishful thinking.

    • Leisure Suit Barry

      If you think Sony are going to invest in PCVR/PS5 VR games just because they sell another 500K headsets to PC users then you are living in cloud cuckoo land.

      People need to take a step out of their bubbles and see what’s really going on.

    • Christian Schildwaechter

      The PSVR2 was never locked. One initial fear was that Sony might have encrypted the sensor data or the video stream, but pretty much everything turned out to be accessible. It was just undocumented , and Sony didn’t provide any software for PC.

      iVRy’s attempts to get PSVR2 working on PC were surprisingly successful, with the main issue being that one of the most interesting features, performance gains through ETFR, requires software that has no usable free/open source equivalent yet, making the PSVR2 just a regular 2K 6DoF HMD on PC.

      And ETFR will make or brake the PSVR2 on PC. Sony would have to provide a PC version of their tracking software (and pay their partner Tobii for the use of their software and patents on PC too). Only then will porting PSVR2 games relying on ET and (significant) ETFR performance gains become feasible. Which may actually be Sony’s plan to get more AAA to include VR modes targeting both PSVR2 and PCVR.

      • XRC

        Guessing Sony is using the lower tier Tobii gaming licence, like crystal?

        From recent RMA:

        Greenonetrailmix: “Tobii has eye tracking values that are not enabled for the Pimax Crystal that other VR headsets have with Tobii hardware, one special case is the Vive Pro Eye. The best eye-tracked headset on the market. Why haven’t we seen some extra values that the hardware has for Social VR applications such as VRChat? The community as a whole for social VR wants these extra features integrated. Missing features in question: Pupil diameter, eye openness, convergence distance, and gradual non-binary blinking.”

        Pimax: “Thanks for your question. While integrated eye tracking introduces the capacity to support an array of eye-tracking-enabled features, it’s important to prioritize those that provide the best value to users for the target use cases. For example, the mentioned Pupil diameter feature is a scientific purpose signal available via Tobii Ocumen, an advanced toolkit that provides developers with a framework to record, organize, and analyse biometrics as well as rapidly build and deploy scientific-grade VR products in specialized industries like healthcare and medical assessment. Pimax Crystal, as a high-end gaming VR headset, is currently not compatible with Tobii Ocumen.”

        Solution:

        One method to expose this data is to use a third-party application like “BrokenEye” developed by Ghostiam which will provide gaze direction, pupil diameter, blink or eye openness, and the camera stream from each eye.

        • Christian Schildwaechter

          I wasn’t aware of the Tobii licence tiers, but it makes sense. I remember being annoyed that the HP Reverb G2 Omnicept Eye required an expensive subscription to access some of the biometric data, making it much less attractive. And apparently BrokenEye sort of loopholes through the license, giving users access to the blocked functions, but warning that it is intended for non-commercial use only.

          Tobii locking some features in the cheaper licenses for consumer eye tracking for the software they have been working on for decades is understandable, but somewhat frustrating, esp. since they aren’t blocking any advanced features, but instead very simple to gather data. Which makes projects like EyeTrackVR a lot more interesting. They cannot do the hard stuff like ETFR motion prediction, but with a design based on cheap ESP32 camera modules with custom firmware for basic pupil tracking, there are practically no (license) limits what one could do with the resulting data. Not particularly useful for consumer VR, but very useful for experimentation and development.

      • Brettyboy01

        Of course its locked, you can’t just plug it into a PC and windows goes “Oh, look, its a PSVR2!”, if that was the case, all the modders would have been all over it by now 12 months in, not just “iVRy”.

        • Christian Schildwaechter

          That’s not locked, that’s Windows not coming with drivers for a particular device. Windows will only recognize a limited number of standard devices that connect with a known USB HID class, like mice, keyboards or webcams complying to the UVC standard. Everything else, incl. all non-WMR HMDs, needs (downloadable) driver support by the manufacturer or a 3rd party, which I covered with “Sony didn’t provide any software for PC.”

          Linux relies heavily on 3rd party drivers, as few manufacturers support it directly. But the manufacturers aren’t “locking” their devices in any way, they just don’t offer Linux drivers due to cost. The Monado project implemented a full OpenXR stack for several VR HMDs because nobody except Valve ever natively supported Linux. Some companies provide at least some documentation, but most don’t, so devs have to reverse engineer protocols, like iVRy with PSVR2.

          Locking means actively preventing reverse engineering by encrypting protocols or prohibiting 3rd party software in the license. Sony did none of that. They didn’t help PC users/iVRy, but didn’t try to stop them either.

  • nicki gentry

    or maybe zuckerburg is trying to sabotage the others so that quest will be the only vr headset you can buy.

  • Right Full Rudder

    I think it would have to work directly with PCs and with Steam, if they want to sell it as a viable PC headset. If they do, I think it’s potentially a competitive choice, although it would have been much more so before the Quest 3 released.

    As for more PS titles, my advice is still: Make a list of existing PS games that would be great in VR and pay the developers’ costs to port them to VR. There are titles like GTA5 that would be so great in VR if done right that they would sell headsets.

  • Paul Bellino

    Sony is totally clueless when it comes to VR, they have one of the best headsets but first party games are few and far between. Where is big screen or any other multimedia content. Why have far point, rush to blood, or Star Wars squadrons not been converted yet? Where is Half-Life Alyx? Why has not a big meaty title like Red Dead Redemption not been converted to VR. Very easy and cheap to hire some modders like Preydog. Its totally inept of them to build a great device and not support it. We did not buy a Sony VR headset in order to play kid friendly Meta Games. Know your audience! How stupid can Sony be?

  • Paul Bellino

    The Valve Deckard Will be the one headset to rule them all and Sony Knows this. Thats why they will be working with steam. The Valve Deckard has foveated rendering and eye tracking. Sony is just taking some of Valve’s crumbs. They want a piece of the action. This is Exactly what’s going on. Mark my words.

  • JB1968

    “Acknowledging a Weak Game Library”

    Come on RoadToVR. The title makes you even more tabloid and click-baity than UploadVR.

    Or are you simply paid by Zuck to spit on the competition?

  • Clownworld14

    Pc vr market is full of shovelware, quality over quantity please.

  • Paul Bellino

    I don’t know what was thinking having bought a Sony PlayStation and PSVR2. I should have known not to trust them. They are a very greedy company that wants to put no effort in and Reep all the rewards. With that being said I will sell me Sony shit box and shit headset and invest in the Valve Deckard when it releases this year. PCVR is king and always will be. Sony as we can plainly see will always be licking the ball from PC hoping something tasty comes off. Yes, Sony is that stupid

  • Henk

    Yeah, but PC also faces some VR content issues. Several major studios, such as Ubisoft, have declared they will not produce another VR game. Moreover, numerous other studios are withdrawing support, like EA with their racing games and also Nacon, among many others, ceasing VR development. It’s disheartening for me personally, as I’m passionate about racing games and space sims in VR. However, I have to admit that aside from a few exceptions like Beat Saber, the available content is predominantly subpar. It’s a disappointing reality, with only a tiny fraction of VR experiences being truly engaging.