Sony Is Allegedly Pulling PSVR2 Funding, Report Claims 1
Image: Push Square

While it perhaps won’t come as a huge surprise for those of you who’ve been following PSVR2’s trajectory, a report claims that Sony has significantly cut funding for the headset. As part of a largely opinion-led piece, Android Central cites “anonymous sources” that say PlayStation is paring back production for its pricey peripheral, with only two first-party titles in development.

To be totally honest, that’s two more games than we’d expected, as the Japanese giant has done very little with the device since Horizon Call of the Mountain deployed at launch. It spectacularly ported the entirety of Gran Turismo 7 to the headset, but beyond that, it’s largely relied on third-party and indie developers to keep the device’s release schedule stacked. To be fair, there is a sizeable selection of software available for the unit.

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Many felt the writing was on the wall when Astro Bot, the latest adventure from Japanese studio Team ASOBI, was announced as a pancake platformer. Despite earning most popularity from PS5 tech demo Astro’s Playroom, the character actually first debuted in The Playroom VR, with his first full adventure being the sublime PSVR exclusive, Astro Bot Rescue Mission.

Speaking in an interview with Push Square, director Nicolas Doucet told us that his team never designed the new Astro Bot for PSVR2 in the first place, and that’s why it doesn’t support the headset. “It was a decision to expand on the world of Astro's Playroom and bring Astro to the big stage,” he said. “So, from the beginning, that was really our focus.”

There are still a number of great games coming to PSVR2 in the future, like Skydance’s Behemoth. And, of course, Sony is releasing an adapter which will make the headset compatible with PC. But with first-party support non-existent, and hardware manufacturing purportedly paused, the future isn’t exactly looking rosy for the otherwise technologically impressive format.

Which of the following best describes your relationship with PSVR2?

[source androidcentral.com]