waverly

Trans Rights are Human Rights

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M.A. Linguistics, B.Sc. Computer Science. Also interested in art and music theory. Tumbling through life. Navigating the universe. Laying on the floor. Profile Picture by ikimaru on Tumblr; Header courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech.



D-Volt
@D-Volt

Oh boy, oh boy! Just the other day I mentioned how Sony was soon to release a PC adapter for the PSVR2 headset, making it compatible with all SteamVR games and beyond. Sony has announced the device will be released in August for $59.99. I think that's a little overpriced for what is essentially a fancy DisplayPort dongle, but what can you do? It's Sony branded, so people will pay the premium.

Given the PSVR2 is on sale now for $449.99, making a PSVR2 your PC VR headset of choice (assuming you don't already own a PSVR2 for your PS5) is a $550ish investment (including tax). The PSVR2 headset is priced extremely well considering the technology packed into it. Tech like OLED, HDR, and eye-tracking are usually reserved for VR headsets in the $1000+ range. This should make the PSVR2 one of the best PC VR headsets on the market, even beating out the Valve Index in many different areas...unless Sony finds a way to fuck it all up. But that's impossible, right?

Don't worry. It'll only have several key features unsupported on PC. No biggie.

Oh...right. This is Sony we're talking about. There's always a catch with Sony. See, a lot of the best tech the PSVR2 has to offer (eye-tracking, headset feedback, adaptive triggers, haptic feedback, and HDR) will be unavailable on PC. The immediate question that comes to mind is why? Support for all of these technologies is already present on PC. Eye-tracking has been supported by games like VRChat for years now. The DualSense controller's adaptive triggers are supported on Steam. HDR is common in hundreds of different gaming monitors.

Sony had the perfect solution to their PSVR2 problem. They don't want to make any more games for it, so why not make it compatible with PC and let SteamVR fix that issue? Hell, their consumer base will even be dumb enough to overpay for a PC dongle to support it. Maybe they'll drop Horizon: Call of the Mountain on Steam next year? It all made sense. Why the FUCK did Sony choose to neuter the device on launch?

100% of the tech being locked off for PC should be possible to bring back through a software update. Maybe Sony will choose to unlock these features for PC in the future. Maybe they rushed the launch of their new adapter instead of getting everything compatible with PC in time for its launch. I don't know. All I know is the removal of these technologies, especially HDR, takes so much value away from the PSVR2 as a PC headset for no apparent reason.

I thought bringing PC support to the PSVR2 would be a great way to finally start making Sony's VR headsets fly off the shelves. Now I can't really recommend buying a PSVR2 headset for PC unless you absolutely have to have an OLED display. Buying a $550 VR headset for your PC just to have some of its most valuable tech locked off by the manufacturer isn't something I can condone. For fuck's sake, Sony.


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in reply to @D-Volt's post:

This isn't for sales.
I can't imagine Sony thinking PSVR2's are going to become a hot seller.

This is a quiet apology, an attempt to clear the warehouse and a wink and handshake with the applied agreement we never speak of this again.

Honestly, it has to be. Anyone who already owns a PSVR2 and has a VR-capable gaming PC should just pay the $60 dongle tax. You already sunk $500+ into the thing. No point getting embarrassed now.

It's just frustrating because on its face the PSVR2 is an excellent PCVR headset that could honestly make a real dent in the marketplace. Eye-tracking, headset feedback, HDR, and OLED are 100% features that are hard to find in any VR headset under $1000. But instead, Sony decided not to bother making most of those features available on PC.

VR headsets are a niche market whether tethered or standalone. But if you're going to enter a niche market the best strategy is to carve out your own unique identity. Sony took most of what could have made the PSVR2 unique in the PCVR headset marketplace and threw it away. What a goddamn waste.

I mean, the PSVR2 is currently £100 off - that's a chunky discount. I can imagine it will continue to get big discounts.

So even without the fancy eye tracking etc (which I bet someone will mod back in somehow) it isn't a terrible deal.

BUT I really can't imagine someone buying a PSVR2 for use on the PC. Hell, no one brought a PSVR2 for use on the PS5.

Except me.

So, for me - this is excellent news.

Honestly, fuck the PSVR2. It sucked.

At least now it's not a paperweight.

I bought one, too. My PC is designed specifically for VR (I originally built it to support and future proof a Rift S) but I got rid of that when they required Facebook to use it. So I already have pc vr games that I can't play.

At least now I will be able to fire them up again.

When they first announced it I thought 'you should just be able to hook it up to PC when you've exhustaed the normal PlayStation content so people feel safe investing in it'

Might be too little too late now.

The lack of headset rumble, trigger recoil and HD rumble are somewhat understandable since games must be updated for them to anyway and that needs both time and money and pretty sure Sony wouldn't do it. Would have been nice to have it as an option though.
Eye tracking and the rest is just baffling. As you, and many others (including myself), mention is that the PSVR2 would be a pretty neat headset for the price and could absolutely get some sales with these features. ANd they exist already in PCVR tech. This makes no sense.

Is this Sony's (very silly) attempt to sell more PS5s? As with their PC releases of games coming real late they think some PC gamers would get a PS5 to play the exclusives on day one. Same with releasing a half assed PSVR2 on PC and saying "you want the real deal with those exclusives? You gonna need a PS5!"
I do not believe that of course, but still I wouldn't be surprised if true.

Software sells hardware. First year was pretty good, but doesn't look like Sony have anything planned. Couldn't make Astro Bot a hybrid when there's 3 RE games that are...
Oh well, Still several great 3rd party games comin' and I'll be enjoying those.

Oh well#2, I don't need to get a VR set when I get a new GPC at least.

It's a shame. Right now I use a Pico 4 as my main VR headset for PC. I would have considered upgrading to a PSVR2 headset if all its features worked on PC. As I said before, I just can't support Sony choosing to lock off features of the headset on PC for no clear reason. Besides the fresnel lenses instead of pancake, the PSVR2 would be a big upgrade from my Pico 4 in a lot of ways (with every feature unlocked for PC anyway).

The problem for me is that there's no clear upgrade from my current headset without jumping into the $1000+ territory for something like a Pimax Crystal. I imagine I'll be sticking with my Pico 4 for quite some time. I'm in no rush to upgrade though. A fully PC compatible PSVR2 would have just been difficult to turn down at the right price.

It's absolutely an odd case and would love to see the reasoning but I guess we wont ever get an explanation.
Anyways, personally, I am satisfied with the PSVR2 so far, it's the future games I am holding an eye on.

And it getting a PC update is just a bonus for me.

But I do worry about it's future in genral.