A few days ago we published an opinion piece in which we said that virtual reality for games was dead for two reasons: first, because of people who still want to keep it as a luxury item. Secondly, due to the fact that the company that bought the biggest creator of this type of device stopped making games and it seems that they have hives. Now comes SONY, giving the official price of their PlayStation VR 2 and giving us the final stone.
The price of the PS VR 2 makes them reserved for the privileged
Virtual Reality is a medium in itself, with its own rules and does not rely solely on the transmission of game images to virtual reality glasses. One of the most important rules is that of telepresence, which states that the whole process, from the moment we press a button until the action appears in our viewer, must take less than 20 milliseconds. Enough to give the spectator’s brain the feeling of being there. This obviously requires power and that’s why almost a decade ago having an RV was something very privileged.
The normal thing about all technologies is that they not only shrink but also become accessible in terms of price for most people. That is to say, they are priced right for mass adoption, without neglecting high-end versions with higher technical specifications for users who have developed a more demanding taste. The problem arises when the medium has become a cult object for a minority and has no potential market share. That is to say, it has been made to believe that it cannot be democratized for the masses.
The first PlayStation VR were not commercially successful, the reason being that it was not necessary to only have a PS4, preferably the Pro version which is more powerful. Otherwise, in addition, you need the PS Move and the PS Camera which add 150 dollars to the package. That’s to say, the official price of the PlayStation VR 2, 599 $, does not differ much from the first model. Which was grossly profitable, but they only sold 5 million units in all those years, a figure the Quest 2 quickly surpassed in a year.
How does it compare to Meta Quest 2?
We’re not going to deny that PlayStation VR 2 brings with it a series of advanced technologies that greatly enhance the experience. Among them is the ability to follow the movement of our eyes, which not only reduces the feeling of dizziness and lack of coordination, but also positively increases immersion. We also cannot exclude which are the high quality HDR OLED panels. However, we think they should have been cheaper, since a good part of these tasks are not handled by any internal chip, but by the PlayStation 5 console.
The most used virtual reality glasses at the moment are the Meta Quest 2, whose price has recently increased by more than 100 $. They don’t have eye tracking technology and it’s an independent unit, but we can use them on our computer thanks to Oculus Link. However, a quick comparison with the PlayStation VR 2 shows us that the SONYs are technically superior.
| Characteristic | PlayStation VR 2 | Meta Quest 2 |
|---|---|---|
| type of screen | OLED HDR | LCD |
| resolution per eye | 2000 x 2040 pixels | 1820 x 1920 pixels |
| refresh rate | 120Hz | 120Hz |
| The follow-up | 4 internal cameras in the unit | 4 internal cameras in the unit |
| eye tracking | And | Nope |
| field of view | 110º | 90º |
| ¿Requires original hardware? | Yes, PS5. | No, but it can be connected to the PC. |
It is necessary to start from the fact that the Meta Quest 2 to work autonomously has the circuits of a high-end mobile with its processor, its RAM and its storage, which the PlayStation VR 2 lacks. So at least the latter. could have come out at a price 100 dollars cheaper and cost no more than the console itself. 
What are our conclusions?
We believe that SONY would greatly benefit from bringing its PS VR 2 to PCdue to the fact that it is currently the platform where VR titles are most mature and there is an already established developer community that would benefit from eye tracking technology and would facilitate the conversion on your console of many games designed for VR. It might sound silly, but what a platform like this needs are games and if they’re also tailored properly to take advantage of technology, it’s a win-win.
Not everyone has a gaming PC and prefers the console to play games. The advantages for SONY when it comes to mounting their PS VR 2 are not uncommon and we know this from the price comparison with the Meta Quest 2. Apart from the fact that they recover the money with the royalties of the games, at least on console. Since Meta doesn’t seem too keen on VR games, at least SONY is making an effort.
That said, the PS VR 2 at a decent price and being able to use it on PC would have been a very positive point. In any case, we have to slap the graphics card manufacturers for not including at least one USB-C Alt DP output in their models, in addition to not doing so in their gaming laptops. Which caused a barrier impassable for the mass adoption of VR.
