Social VR app Bigscreen is planning to launch on PSVR, the company affirmed this week. Though it may not come until late 2019 or early 2020, when it does, Bigscreen will be just about the only app to support every major VR headset.
If you’ve got a friend who has a headset that’s different than yours but you want to hang out in VR together, the question of ‘where?’ becomes a tricky game of ‘which app supports both of our headsets?’. Yes there’s Rec Room, which spans a good many headsets, but not Oculus Go or Gear VR. VRChat is an option, but doesn’t support PSVR, Go, or Gear VR. And you could of course think about Facebook Spaces, but that’s not on any of Oculus’ mobile headsets or PSVR. Then there’s all the Oculus social apps, not one of which even supports all of the company’s own headsets.
Bigscreen, however, has been a ray of hope in the darkness, as the company has aggressively pursued support for virtually every major headset out there except one: PSVR. But the company plans to bring that headset into the mix too, finally becoming the one social VR app to rule support them all. (Technically Bigscreen doesn’t support Daydream headsets, though Google seems to have left the platform to wither).
Bigscreen tweeted this week that PSVR support is on the roadmap, aiming for “late 2019 or early 2020.” The company had previously expected to add PSVR support to Bigscreen in 2018, but those plans didn’t pan out.
Bigscreen lets users join virtual rooms together and (if on a PC) use their Windows desktop via a virtual monitor floating in front of them. The concept sounds simple, but with the ability for anyone in the room to project their PC screen onto a giant virtual screen for everyone to see, it’s easy to watch movies, play games, or just browse the web together while feeling like you’re sitting on a couch together.
Given that PSVR users don’t have a Windows desktop to use, the question of ‘what would they even do in Bigscreen?’ was a poignant one—until about two weeks ago when the company launched Bigscreen TV, a service which streams video content into officially hosted public rooms for anyone to watch. That means that PSVR users will be able to find streaming video content to gather around with friends, even if none of them are on a PC VR headset for content sharing.
Speaking to Road to VR, Bigscreen founder Darshan Shankar said that “PSVR is by far the #1 request we receive for Bigscreen. Every Reddit post, YouTube video, and tweet has comments asking for PSVR.”
It’s clear that the company was waiting to roll out Bigscreen TV—which Shankar called “perfect for PSVR”—before bringing the app to the headset so that users wouldn’t have to rely on others to find something to watch. He said that the company also has plans to host social VR movie night events and offer 3D movie rentals, all of which would be available to PSVR users.
Late 2019 or early 2020 is a long wait but we’ll continue to cheer-on Bigscreen’s efforts to connect everyone together regardless of their headset choice.