It’s finally arrived! PlayStation announced this evening that the long-awaited PSVR 2 will be releasing in early 2023. A subdued announcement, to be sure, but a welcome one.
While no concrete details have been released with the announcement (made on Twitter), we do know a few things about the upcoming PSVR 2 system based on prior leaked details and business information that has been disclosed for legality purposes. For starters, Sony has been negotiating with Tobii to be able to use their eye-tracking technology in the PSVR 2, information that was released in February of this year.
In January of 2022 at CES 2022, Sony’s Jim Ryan did reveal a few additional details about the upcoming system, as well as the PlayStation VR Sense controllers that will be part of it. The headset itself will feature enhanced eye-tracking technology (likely Tobii’s), responsive feedback, a greater field of view, foveated rendering and will be able to accommodate graphics in 4K HDR. This also came after Sony announced the details for the new PSVR 2 controller in March of 2021.
Also announced at CES was a new game in the Horizon series entitled Horizon Call of The Mountain. Unfortunately, few other details for the game have been released thus far, but we’ll hopefully see more moving forward.
Released at the same time as CES 2022 were Sony's specs for the new console.
PlayStation VR2 Specifications
Display method OLED
Panel resolution 2000 x 2040 per eye
Panel refresh rate 90Hz, 120Hz
Lens separation Adjustable
Field of View Approx. 110 degrees
Sensors Motion Sensor: Six-axis motion sensing system (three-axis gyroscope, three-axis accelerometer)
Attachment Sensor: IR Proximity sensor
Cameras 4 cameras for headset and controller trackingIR camera for eye tracking per eye
Feedback Vibration on headset
Communication with PS5 USB Type-C®
Audio Input: Built-in microphoneOutput: Stereo headphone jack
PlayStation VR2 Sense Controllers Specifications
Buttons [Right]
PS button, Options button, Action buttons (Circle / Cross), R1 button, R2 button, Right Stick / R3 button
[Left]
PS button, Create button, Action buttons (Triangle / Square), L1 button, L2 button, Left Stick / L3 button
Sensing/ Tracking Motion Sensor: Six-axis motion sensing system (three-axis gyroscope + three-axis accelerometer)
Capacitive Sensor: Finger Touch DetectionIR LED: Position Tracking
Feedback Trigger Effect (on R2/L2 button), Haptic Feedback (by single actuator per unit)
Port USB Type-C® Port
Communication Bluetooth® Ver5.1
Battery Type: Built-in Lithium-ion Rechargeable Battery
While it appears Sony was trying to release at Holiday 2022, the issues with getting hardware created and delivered has served as a bottleneck for Sony. The PlayStation 5 has been sold out basically everywhere since launch, and while Sony is finally getting a handle on it, it's taken two years, and not restored to pre-pandemic levels. Getting enough PlayStation 5's on shelves probably took priority for Sony, and hopefully it means there will be a robus lineup especially with the increasing interest in virtual reality that we'ves seen with the Meta Quest 2.
