Six and a half years after the launch of PS VR, Sony will launch the successor to its virtual reality headset for PlayStation on Wednesday, continuing to show its ambitions in a market that is struggling to curry favor with the general public.
Thirty titles available
Once upside down, the PS VR2, with its futuristic design, is lighter than its predecessor and displays smoother, smoother visuals. The new levers, in the form of handles, are also easy to operate. In terms of ergonomics, the headset is designed to allow the user to play with glasses, and only one cable is needed to connect it to the PlayStation 5.
After kicking off in January, the Tech&Co editorial team was able to dig deeper into their PlayStation VR2 discovery in preview. Your proof can be found here.
Thirty titles will be compatible with the launch of PS VR2, either new or updates to existing games, such as the racing simulator “Gran Turismo 7”. An online event from the manufacturer already promises to add five games to this list.
The PS VR2 is available in several countries, including France (starting at €600), the UK (£530) and the US ($550).
A boom in 2014
Despite a boom in the mid-2010s, symbolized among other things by Facebook’s 2014 acquisition of start-up Oculus for $2 billion, virtual reality headsets are still not as popular as virtual reality headsets. game consoles.
According to the firm CSC Insights, in 2022 fewer than 10 million units were delivered worldwide, all brands together. For comparison, Sony claims to have sold 30 million PlayStation 5s last year.
Two of the flagship models currently on the market, the Meta Quest 2 and the PICO 4, sell for more than 400 euros, a potentially deterrent price for many buyers. PICO 4, developed by ByteDance, the Chinese owner of TikTok, is also not available in the United States. The other major players (HTC, HP, Valve) charge similar prices, if not much higher than Meta and ByteDance.
“As with most consumer technologies, the entry of new manufacturers into the market will result in a wide variety of devices appearing at different price points,” said Rick Kowalski, an analyst with the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), which organizes technology CES. show in Vegas.
Apple’s upcoming release of its virtual reality headsets is also mentioned, but the iPhone maker has yet to make any official announcements.
business uses
Another reason that limits adoption by the general public has to do with the constant technological evolution of the products and the lack of adaptability, explains Rolf Illenberger, president of VRDirect, a virtual reality consultancy.
Consumers “invest in expensive headphones and are often disappointed when they discover, six months later, that the new generation is much better than the one they bought and that the old one doesn’t support the new features,” sums up Mr. Illenberger.
For the specialist, helmets are currently more suitable for specific uses in the business world, but not beyond. “Aside from video games, they still don’t offer enough of a range of content for people to be attracted to this technology on a regular basis,” he admits.
Source: BFM TV
