It's Time For Sony To Release A PlayStation VR2S

More PS5 owners deserve to own a VR headset powered by their console.

From No Man's Sky and Gran Turismo 7 to Resident Evil Village, PlayStation V2 offers experiences that no standalone headset to date could handle, and renders many multi-platform VR titles with noticeably higher graphical fidelity. But too few of the 75 million PS5 owners can justify the headset's price.

Over the weekend, PlayStation VR2's two year anniversary came and passed, with no announcements from Sony then, on Friday, or today.

I had hoped to see the $550 headset permanently reduced to the $350 price it was offered at for a week in summer and six weeks over the holidays. On the first day of that summer sale a retailer sold more in one day than the entire year, and over the holidays multiple developers told me they saw a significantly greater sales boost on PS VR2 than the previous year.

PlayStation VR2 Sales Reportedly Skyrocket At $350 Price

A retailer reportedly sold more PlayStation VR2 units in one day at the sale price of $350 than all year so far at the regular $550 price.

UploadVRDavid Heaney

This strongly suggests that the limiting factor for PlayStation VR2 has been its price, something I've been saying since it was announced. An accessory simply cannot be more expensive than the console it connects to. For many regular people the PS5 console is already a significant expense. As interested as these 75 million people might be by the prospect of high-fidelity VR gaming, $550 just isn't a price most are willing to pay.

Don't get me wrong. PlayStation VR2 is a great headset in many ways, with some flaws, but at $550, it just doesn't matter to most PS5 owners.

The fact that Sony did not permanently reduce the price two years into the headset's life suggests to me that at $350, Sony wasn't making a profit, and that executives may be unwilling to do this perpetually. That's why, I'd argue, it's time for a fundamentally cheaper option for VR on PS5.

The Case For PlayStation VR2S

Meta Quest 3 is a great headset, and it's still the standalone headset we recommend buying. But at $500 its appeal is relatively limited, and that's why Meta introduced the $300 Quest 3S, which in just three months became the top selling console on Amazon US for all of 2024.

If Sony took a similar strategy, it could open up VR on PS5 to millions more people, and these new owners would provide a much-needed lifeline to the professional VR game development studios finding Quest to no longer be the ideal market for their content and the PS VR2 owner base simply not big enough to act as a replacement.

Further, an influx of millions of PS VR2S owners would even inspire some gaming giants to add VR support to their existing AAA PS5 games.

Quest 3S Was The Top Selling Console On Amazon In 2024

Meta Quest 3S was the top selling games console on Amazon US in 2024, despite only releasing in October.

UploadVRDavid Heaney

To get specific, this hypothetical PlayStation VR2S would use a single LCD panel instead of dual HDR OLEDs, and perhaps drop the headset rumble. This could allow Sony to sell the headset at the regular PS VR2's sale price, $350, or perhaps even less. Yet by keeping eye tracking, it would support all the same games.

Now, I know some PS VR2 enthusiasts reading this will be revolted at the thought of losing the true blacks, deep contrast, and rich colors of HDR OLED. But to be clear, you wouldn't! This new headset would not replace PS VR2. Just like Meta still sells Quest 3 after launching Quest 3S, Sony would still sell PS VR2.

What About Wireless?

Price is undeniably PlayStation VR2's biggest constraint. But a close second is the cable.

Almost everyone who bought into VR before 2019 was by definition someone who didn't particularly mind, or at least accepted, the cable. But tens of millions of people stood by and waited for the cable to get cut, and followed through by purchasing a wireless Quest headset. Yes, the primary appeal of Quest is its standalone nature. But would you really argue it would be just as successful if it needed to be plugged into a socket at all times, for example?

Zuckerberg: Consumers Aren’t Going “To Go For” Wired VR

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg suggested in a earnings call with investors that consumers aren’t interested in VR headsets with wires. “Some other folks might try to ship something that they claim is higher quality but has a wire, and I just don’t think that consumers are going to

UploadVRIan Hamilton

I've given hundreds of VR demos in my time, and before Quest even gaming PC and PlayStation owners cited the cable as the main reason they wouldn't buy a headset just yet. Step out of our VR bubble and you'll find that most people are completely turned off by the idea of having a head-mounted umbilical cord sprawling across their living room while effectively blindfolded.

All of this is to say, there's also an argument to be made for a PlayStation VR2 Pro. Rather than upgrading the lenses or displays, this headset would simply take the regular PS VR2 and add the chips and battery necessary for wireless VR, driven by a direct point-to-point link with the PS5 console.

PlayStation R&D Head Outlines ‘Next-Gen’ VR Headsets: Increased Resolution, Wider FOV, HDR, Wireless, Eye-Tracking

Of all of the major VR headsets on the market today, Sony’s PSVR stands to gain the most from an upgrade. But what might we see in a next-generation PSVR? Senior vice president of R&D at Sony, Dominic Mallinson, has some ideas, and they’re pretty exciting. Mallison

UploadVRJamie Feltham

To be clear though, this is a much lower priority than a cheaper PlayStation VR2S, which is what Sony's console VR ecosystem needs more than anything.