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IGN: A Year Since Its Release, Sony Seems to Have Abandoned PlayStation VR2

Davevil

Late October Surprise
images


meanwhile Vr 2's user base ...
 
The Meta Quest sold well over 20 millions alone.. You're partly right tho, the VR market is indeed volatile, and VR in general has a HUGE retention problem. It's a new technology in its early days. Current form factor and technology is still a no-no for mass market adoption. But the near future potential market for VR is much much larger than the market for consoles once the main issues are solved.

But Sony obviously played the wrong hand here, the PSVR2 made little sense for its time. It was bad timing, and many of us (VR enthusiasts) "warned" about it.
I don’t believe the near future potential market for VR is much larger than that of the console. Many folks like the ease of a console and not having to wear a headset for extended periods of time. This is the exact opinion of all of my friends and family who have tried my VR. Sure, VR market share will get bigger, but there’s no chance it gets a bigger market share than consoles any time soon, if ever. I’m referring to VR as we know it now of course. Who knows what VR will be 20-30 years from now.
 
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Here come the lectures that it isn't a gimmick, fad, or niche.
Of course it's a gimmick. But a very good one!

Problem is that Sony almost instantly dropped the whole VR thing when it came out. There is 0 reason now to buy one. Unless you want to play GT7 with hellish ghosting or Call of the Mountain with shit controls.

I own a Quest 2 and LOVE it. I got games installed locally for the casual fun VR experience with friends or collegues.
BUT I can also use it to immerse myself in a virtual trackday or whatever I want when I hook it up to my PC.

Do I feel like a Rockstar? I fire up Unplugged (Quest)
Do I feel like a badass shooting enemies in the head to the beat? I fire up Pistol Whip (Quest)
Do I feel like a rocking Viking? I fire up RagnaRock (Quest)

Do I want to shoot people in the face like John Wick? I fire up HL: Alyx with Gunman mods (Steam)
Do I want to race online and feel fully immersed and hit the apex? I fire up Automobilista 2/ Assetto Corsa/ F1

The PSVR2 just doesnt have this level of versatility. Hell I can take the Quest outside if I need more space than my house can provide. Tether my phone for internet if needed and done.


Sony built a badly supported gem of a headset.

And it's a damn shame.

The tech is awesome, but the library...... Virtually non existant.

Hot Fuzz Shame GIF
 
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I don’t believe the near future potential market for VR is much larger than that of the console. Many folks like the ease of a console and not having to wear a headset for extended periods of time. This is the exact opinion of all of my friends and family who have tried my VR. Sure, VR market share will get bigger, but there’s no chance it gets a bigger market share than consoles any time soon, if ever. I’m referring to VR as we know it now of course. Who knows what VR will be 20-30 years from now.
VR is now where consoles were 20 years ago. Give it time.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
I don’t believe the near future potential market for VR is much larger than that of the console. Many folks like the ease of a console and not having to wear a headset for extended periods of time. This is the exact opinion of all of my friends and family who have tried my VR. Sure, VR market share will get bigger, but there’s no chance it gets a bigger market share than consoles any time soon, if ever. I’m referring to VR as we know it now of course. Who knows what VR will be 20-30 years from now.
VR will always be niche because most people who game do it traditionally sitting on a couch or office chair. The Wii fad came and went fast. And only diehards who want Wii hand waving controls with wrist gadgets again combined with 360 view want that again.

From my limited time playing VR PC top sellers like Job Sim and Creed before covid, the games are total junk. Now someone will say, there all games are way better than those two. Maybe. But who cares. If holistically thats the kind of games you get, forget it even if they are $20. I'd rather sit on my couch and play better games that cost more.

Creed VR didn't even make sense. Youre swinging your fists like a boxer and the game tries sim your character getting beat up and slower. So even though I'm throwing fists fast the game doesn't even catch up. Whats the point of full motion punch simming if it cant even replicate it.
 
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Bond007

Member
IMO- By this logic Sony also abandoned the PS5 cause we have no major 1st party releases this year.

So if the main console isnt, what makes us think VR will? Sony also has a history of abandoning products so the questioning isnt unwarranted - but i find it a tad premature.
 

Snake29

Banned
I still going to purchase the PSVR2. Enough good games i still want to play in VR. GT7 alone is seller for me and with the upcoming PC support, i don't need a seperate one.

Metro VR looks good and some other new announced VR games. I don't care if these games aren't from PS Studios itself.
 
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VR will always be niche because most people who game do it traditionally sitting on a couch or office chair. The Wii fad came and went fast. And only diehards who want Wii hand waving controls with wrist gadgets again combined with 360 view want that again.

From my limited time playing VR PC top sellers like Job Sim and Creed before covid, the games are total junk. Now someone will say, there all games are way better than those two. Maybe. But who cares. If holistically thats the kind of games you get, forget it even if they are $20. I'd rather sit on my couch and play better games that cost more.

Creed VR didn't even make sense. Youre swinging your fists like a boxer and the game tries sim your character getting beat up and slower. So even though I'm throwing fists fast the game doesn't even catch up. Whats the point of full motion punch simming if it cant even replicate it.
It fully understand this but lets not forget that the medium VR itself is perfectly fine to play full fledged games.
Look at HL: Alyx and the racers available on pc.

Too bad not many devs care for a PROPER implementation of VR in their products. THAT's the problem.
 
Sony have not released many first party PS5 games recently and have said they have no major first party games until 2025 now, so it's no surprise they haven't released many PSVR 2 games either.

I will say the 3rd party support, including some deals made by Sony (Resident Evil Village and RE4 Remake) has given us some amazing VR games though. It's not like PSVR 2 is dead just because IGN think no first party games = abandoned. I've got nearly 40 PSVR 2 games now and still some more to buy, so it's not like it's lacking great games to play and the upcoming PC support will open up even more games to play on PSVR 2.
 
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I still going to purchase the PSVR2. Enough good games i still want to play in VR. GT7 alone is seller for me and with the upcoming PC support, i don't need a seperate one.

Metro VR looks good and some other new announced VR games. I don't care if these games aren't from PS Studios itself.


Be sure to get this one. It's awesome! Bit limited due to no hand gesture support as on Quest, but still damn cool.


This is the Quest version:
 
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StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
It fully understand this but lets not forget that the medium VR itself is perfectly fine to play full fledged games.
Look at HL: Alyx and the racers available on pc.

Too bad not many devs care for a PROPER implementation of VR in their products. THAT's the problem.
Yup.

And because of that, a lot of games will use VR as a tacked on mode or a quick and cheap game hoping the small user base buys it. It's like the CDrom era when it first came out. A shit load of games were just updated catridge and PC disc games but had some cut scenes or digitized scenes or CD audio thrown in. The core game was basically the same. It wasnt till CD gaming became standard when everything changed to go with the medium.

But for VR gaming, unless it becomes a norm of some kind (like every PC or console comes with VR goggles with the hardware), it'll be treated as a second cousin.
 
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Fess

Member
After Vita I won't purchase any hardware from Sony that isn't a Playstation console.
Yeah I learned the lesson back then as well. Secondary platforms is incredibly difficult, Nintendo could do it but that’s about it.
 
Admittedly, the tech is cool. The price point is fair for what is offered. But where are the fucking games? This should have been a day-1 PC compatible device... Sony always fumbles with their hardware releases that aren't their main platform.

The same can be said about the PS Portal, it is cool but not for its asking price and what it offers. These companies lack vision for the most basic stuff.
 

CamHostage

Member
The general expectation was that it would be more successful than PSVR 1 and get more support.

And be easier to support, given the more powerful console hardware and the more prolific VR development tools and the convergence of VR technologies on compatible features as the market has matured. (Especially so since the market had settled on a certain performance level based on the most successful VR device being a mobile-powered standalone unit. It was conceivable that more software for it could be made at the "meager" Quest level while also having a higher ceiling for whatever big games wanted to use it.)

Sony made their showcase Horizon game on the familiar UE4 (albeit UE4 was also often used on PS4 VR, but compromises and workarounds are much less necessary at this performance level; also note that they used a common engine for a series founded on the internal Decima.) Their other showcase title was a simple, elegant demonstration of multipurpose design where they made the hit game Gran Turismo 7 playable at full scale with a VR modification. They set the example, but it was hard to imagine at the time that those two products were to be the end rather than the beginning (aside from some publishing deals) of their internal investment and table-setting for PSVR2.
 
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I knew a guy who bought a PSVR2 based on hearing about the exciting VR experiences on the quest. This was a guy who had recently received a terminal cancer diagnosis. He must have figured it would be a premium playstation version of VR, only problem was he couldn't play any of the cool games he had heard about from the quest. He even bought the VR staple superhot only to realize it only works on PSVR1. Then he fucking died and that was his only VR experience. True story. 😢
 

JordiENP

Member
I bought that thing for cheap on clearance and still use it every day for work. It's my second monitor and still looks better than all my other screens.
I bought it too, apart from the annoying glossy display it was good. But the reason I bought it was because of the 3D hype and support from sony, I think I only played Uncharted 3.
 
I bought it too, apart from the annoying glossy display it was good. But the reason I bought it was because of the 3D hype and support from sony, I think I only played Uncharted 3.
I played Motorstorm and maybe Killzone? I think about hooking it up for more motorstorm. I still have all the stuff.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
I bought that thing for cheap on clearance and still use it every day for work. It's my second monitor and still looks better than all my other screens.
When it comes to Sony consoles, gamers can be assured it'll be fully supported to the end. When it comes to side peripherals you're gambling whether it's a success or not. Really gambling.

As for those 3D displays, I think when they launched they werent great value since they were 720p, although they had 3D.

But I do remember them being dumped for like $199 I think. At that price, it's a steal. Anyone who waited and wanted a decent 3D LCD for cheap got a bargain.
 
When it comes to Sony consoles, gamers can be assured it'll be fully supported to the end. When it comes to side peripherals you're gambling whether it's a success or not. Really gambling.

As for those 3D displays, I think when they launched they werent great value since they were 720p, although they had 3D.

But I do remember them being dumped for like $199 I think. At that price, it's a steal. Anyone who waited and wanted a decent 3D LCD for cheap got a bargain.
I think I got mine for $99. I hardly even used it for gaming or the 3D, but I've been using it for work now for years. ha
 

Toons

Member
VR games release all the time. I mostly post PC VR stuff (equally called out as dead by Meta fanbois) but the vast majority is multiplatform with the occasional Quest first, PSVR2 first or exclusive thrown in. There are much better stuff than Sony's first party VR output too.

London Studio was not "VR focused". They made PSVR1 stuff, the last in 2019, but they had made nothing for PSVR2 and their next game was a GAAS shooter. Its closure has literally nothing to do with PSVR2. Weak journalism, weak thread making, stop the bullshit folks.

Oh look, trolls that don't know anything about what they're attempting to chime in for and more often than not laugh at the very idea of game journalism shenanigans suddenly take IGN's article title as the de facto fact of how things really are, who saw that coming eh?​
It's exactly why these outlets continue to thrive lol
 
My response was to gothmog who sales Sony doesn't talk business lately, and there's two 50M sales announcements the past few months

And in 2017, they stated they sold 1M PSVR.




2017 was a different time though and a different era. Just because they haven't announced the 1 million number yet doesn't necessarily mean PSVR2 hasn't sold 1 million units.

Is it possible they've yet to sell a million? Yes of course. Is the lack of official announcement usable as circumstantial evidence to support that type of notion? Yeah.

But is it usable as an absolute confirmation it's yet to sell 1 million? Nope.

It's a shame, it definitely needs more support.

It's my favorite part of this generation (so far) and aside from BG3, in my opinion it easily had the best games of 2023 (GT7 VR, RE8 VR and RE4 VR and a few others). But not many people played them.

I love VR (in general) and I think people are sleeping on it, but even I understand.... it's a tough sell and it's hard to advertise properly.

It would be a lot easier to advertise and grow if they could scale down production costs enough to make an entry-level headset packaged with a new console.
 
It's still too far ahead of the mainstream consumer in terms of desirability, continued usage and cost. Lack of established AAA IT'S certainly plays a role, but in every real life situation I've ever seen involving it, it's been a party trick, essentially. Some wacky gimmick you pull out when you have multiple guests over. It's a "hey, check this out," instead of feeling like an open Door into an accessible hobby like gaming proper.

Yeah, the design has to become more scalable so that cheap, entry-level headsets can be manufactured. Ideally, they shouldn't cost any more than $149, and probably should have BOMs of between $75 to $100 tops.

For example if Sony basically manufactured the PSVR1 again with cheaper parts, I'm curious what price point they could get that at while still having some healthy profit margin. I'd guess $249 tops, but they could possibly have even priced it at $199 and still had a small profit margin on each headset. IF they manufactured it today (more or less same specs) with more modern components, some cheaper part alternatives here and there, and at decent enough volume.

I don't think you need anything too much more in terms of local processing performance than a PSVR1 to have an acceptable "entry level" headset 3-4 years out from now. That's what I mean in terms of scalability options.

I dont see how this would have helped them much, they might have sold more units but other than re4, Horizon and gt7, people would have bought the cheaper pc versions of games. It also would have scared away a bunch of the pc devs from porting games to psvr. It's just out of necessity now to sell the stock sitting everywhere......

This. PC compatibility even at this stage won't likely result in a swell of native PS5 ports for PC VR games, but at launch it wouldn't mean even less support software-wise than it ended up getting. There'd be little incentive to spend money on ports for a device that likely would've seen 3/4ths of its sales to PC users in large part because PSVR2 was not BC with PSVR1 software (which heavily limited appeal among console owners).

I just don't think it's right of Sony to pursue PC compatibility even now, without giving something to the console owners who bought a headset Day 1. At least give them the option of accessing more VR content from PC via streaming.

You mean an overly expensive gimmicky console add-on with no games has failed? Who could have seen this coming? Surely there hasn't been literal decades of similar overly expensive, gimmicky console add-ons falling on their face to serve as a warning?

Immersion is a gimmick?

Will this go the way of the 3D TV?

3D TV will make a comeback when the tech is better. More streamlined AR solutions can help with that.

I hope games keep coming out for it. I felt burned by Sega over and over as a kid with peripherals and consoles. If Sony doesn’t support the thing for the life of PS5 it’ll be something I remember along with the jacked up price to play online (and lack of renewal sales since) when evaluating whatever comes next generation.

But honestly, I‘ve been very satisfied with it so far. Main reason I bought it was for the kids. It has the games they wanted most. And one of them in particular uses it all the time. Full games like GT7 blow my mind, but I still prefer the big screen by and large. All that said, I didn’t pay very much. We traded in a lot of stuff that no one touched any more. I think I paid less than 200 for horizon bundle and Sony charging stand. And was able to get every game we have on sale except the Freddy’s ones.

This is exactly what Sony has to avoid: leaving their core customers feeling like they got ripped off. Because they could end up doing exactly what you're saying you'd consider doing: evaluating if investing in the future hardware is even worth doing, and that doesn't stay limited to VR.

When SEGA cut the Sega CD and 32X short in NA, and botched the Saturn's Western launch, a LOT of SEGA fans just went to PlayStation. And because they sunsetted Saturn in the West after only 3 years, Western adoption of Dreamcast was actually lower than it could've been. Yes some diehards who remained got a Dreamcast early on but a lot either left the brand for good, or waited to see if SEGA would continue supporting it beyond 2-3 years (and also were weighing it against the PS2).

For them, SEGA exiting the console market as a platform holder in 2001 just confirmed their pre-existing biases, but SEGA stiffing them multiple times in the past led to those biases being formed in the first place. Sony may be in a significantly better position than SEGA ever was, and are the market leader in the console space (if you consider Switch as more an 8th-gen system, which I do), but they aren't infallible.

You gotta take care of your core audience no matter what. So, if they can't guarantee future native PSVR2 games on PS5 will be a regular thing, they better make sure console owners can at least access PC VR games some kind of way without needing a PC to do so, regardless if they add native PC compatibility as well. Failure to do that is going to sow unnecessary distrust.
 
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magnumpy

Member
I don't get it. videogames are (seemingly) more popular than ever. but yet you see all theses cutbacks and gaming layoffs and Xbox being self owned and PSVR2 getting shitcanned and Sony shutting down first party studios end etc. etc.

maybe it's just problems with the overall economy? like maybe this is a "prelude" before an economic recession? but this could affect videogames and that is just a step too far :(
 

Neff

Member
It's not like the writing wasn't on the wall, Sony peripherals are inevitably starved, even when they're successful (PSP).

Not including PSVR BC was basically a death sentence for this thing.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
It's not like the writing wasn't on the wall, Sony peripherals are inevitably starved, even when they're successful (PSP).

Not including PSVR BC was basically a death sentence for this thing.
If there's one thing about gaming, certain things are always more well received on PC.

- VR
- Community creation games

PSVR 2 and Dreams should had been on a focus with PC gamers from the start. They didn't bother porting Dreams as it was probably too late. And now they are doing a last ditch with PSVR 2 a year or so out. You never know, maybe there's time left to salvage it with the PC crowd. But I doubt it. it'll be something to keep sales going for a bit to clear out stock and then that's it.

People saying PSVR2 at $500 is a good price for what it is. I agree it seems like it. Problem is the console crowd is more about being cost conscious. And having a VR set that costs as much or more than PS5 itself is a big no no. In Canada, it's $750. That's $100 more than PS5 at $650. $1400 total + taxes to play VR on console.

At that price, you might as well just get a PC VR set to go along with whatever PC you got. PC gamers are also bigger spenders. So spending $500+ on a PC VR glasses isn't a big deal. That's why you get way more PC VR selling than PSVR 2. Also, way more VR games on PC. Consoles are more about being value priced and thats good enough. A console is all you need.

Just look at PS4 Pro and One X. For $100-200 more you get a much better console. Hardly anyone bought them. If it was the PC crowd, they'd probably buy it up fast a 3-4 year upgrade. Console gamers would rather just wait for next gen.
 
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ArtHands

Thinks buying more servers can fix a bad patch
I don't get it. videogames are (seemingly) more popular than ever. but yet you see all theses cutbacks and gaming layoffs and Xbox being self owned and PSVR2 getting shitcanned and Sony shutting down first party studios end etc. etc.

maybe it's just problems with the overall economy? like maybe this is a "prelude" before an economic recession? but this could affect videogames and that is just a step too far :(

Its getting popular. What some people didn't really want to share is the growth mostly comes from outside Playstation and Xbox.

 
It's a great headset with a lot of great games.

I really don't know what people expect or why they are so down on it. There were roughly 170 titles released in the first year. I own 55 games now.

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No GaaS shit on it. Games are all relatively inexpensive, most are under $40. Lots of variety.



The developers for Wanderer created a tool set that will streamline certain aspects of development.

VR isn't going away and it's really disappointing to see so many people in a gaming enthusiast forum shit all over it without having played it. It's like 90% indie devs with tiny budgets and some of the games are absolutely brilliant. There's also some publishers/developers who have grown over the past few years and are filling in the void of Sony 1st party (nDreams, Vertigo). Capcom is also well versed in VR.
 
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SHA

Member
Hate to jump into conclusion but I'm not pleased with what I'm seeing so far, I was also disappointed with my ps3 for quite some time till the last of us released.
 
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