
Sony will release an adapter for PSVR2 this week which allows the headset to be connected to a PC. This will effectively transform the proprietary PS5 headset into an accessory for computers, enabling connectivity to Steam where titles like Half-Life Alyx can be played. There are drawbacks: flagship features like foveated rendering, haptic feedback, and gaze tracking will only be supported when the headset is connected to the PS5. Still, it’s a marked change of strategy from the Japanese giant.
And speaking with AV Watch, it sounds like it may have been something the manufacturer was planning from the start. “We have made the PSVR2 compatible with PCs in order to provide PSVR2 users who also have a gaming PC with an environment in which they can enjoy a wide range of VR content on their PCs, and to broaden the scope of the VR experience with PSVR2,” a spokesperson said, as translated by Google.
“The importance of PC connection was recognised even within the PSVR2 development team, and PC connection was also taken into consideration when the design of PSVR2 began. On the release date of PSVR2, we first worked on optimizing the VR experience when connected to a PS5, and then accelerated development of PC compatibility after the release.”
So it sounds like Sony had always planned to support PC with PSVR2, it just wanted to prioritise the PS5 experience first and foremost, which makes sense.
Interestingly, Valve recently reduced the price of Half-Life Alyx on Steam, seemingly in preparation for the influx of headset owners about to connect their PSVR2s to their PCs. Will you be buying the adapter and testing out this functionality? Let us know in the comments section below.
[source av.watch.impress.co.jp]
Comments 34
I love that thumbnail. I’m happy to see it again.
Uhm, really!? You thought you could half a*s the launch of a new platform and sell well anyways due to your hubris. If you want to sell software you should have let others do the hardware for you and make meta ps5 compatible.
I love the “as translated by google”.
@Angelus3K Haha, well I tried ChatGPT but it wasn't working!
If that's true, then the decision to not launch it as such or at least communicate that plan from the start is baffling. There's no doubt it would've sold much, much better at launch if it was also marketed as (future) PC compatible.
@Ainu20 that's because it's bollox. If they had PC in mind from the start, why make important technical features incompatible? What does PSVR2 have over existing headsets for PC?
Now fully porn compatible.
@riceNpea I don't buy it either. The PC adapter and missing features make it feel pretty half baked.
I dont buy that at all, more sony horse***t
Then why didn't they? The just dumped it, and never looked back. Sounds more like they're looking for a way to make some of all the r&d money back.
Yeah right!! That's why they kept it so close to their chest (until they announced they were all but abandoning it), needs an expensive adapter and disables just about all their USPs. Loada crap.
I would love to buy the adapter & am totally perplexed about where to order one
This is an absolute lie.
I have an Index that I've owned for about 4 years now, but I'm on the fence on whether to get a PSVR2 for my PC.
It's a terrible headset the quest 3 is far better
@Frmknst Resi 8, Resi 4, GT7, Synapse?
Eurogamer just reported the Sense controllers are a nightmare to get working with Windows which is very believable. Maybe I just get a Quest
Ohhhh, so that explains why there's no Playstation support for it, they designed PSVR2 as a PCVR HMD to compete against HTC, while not considering how to pass through even basic eye tracking data despite it being the main competitive advantage in the price range. It all makes sense now!
Who thought in 2024 Playstation would become a PC peripheral manufacturer? I myself am looking forward to the Playstation mechanical keyboards. I hear they'll cost $600 and only come in white, but will use proprietary switches because Cherry wouldn't give them a $.05 discount.
Proper translation from something better than Google: "One night Jim came into the office reeking of scotch again, and kept trying to plug his PSVR 2 into his laptop. After 17 hours of the IT department trying to explain to him why it wouldn't work simply yielded him spinning in in his chair, wrapping himself in the wire, and declaring how realistic space was, we decided the best solution was just to create a PC adapter so it would work correctly and avoid future "scenes" the next time the CFO walks in."
That explanation still has 50% less spin than the official one.
@riceNpea "What does PSVR2 have over existing headsets for PC?"
Nearly twice as many godrays?
@VaultGuy415 Triple Facepalm
Yeah great news, but PS5 should be the priority. Being as the headset is designed for PS5. Obviously Sony forgot about that small detail lol 😆
@NEStalgia totally agree mate 👍
Liar Liar Pants On Fire
Well it seems to be working for people with Virtual link ports without any need for the adapter so I guess it makes sense, they must have thought that port was going to be on everything going forward but it basically got killed off and for the people saying why didn't they say this from the very beginning, well that wouldn't help them sell PS5's now would it.
Zz boring said this 2-3 years ago
@MrMagic Even at it's best, VL was only going to be on Nvidia cards, so I can't imagine Sony planned from the beginning to support PC, but not anyone with AMD cards. Especially when their own console/partner is AMD.
@NEStalgia Straight from Wiki -
VirtualLink was a proposed USB-C Alternate Mode that was historically intended to allow the power, video, and data required to power virtual reality headsets to be delivered over a single USB-C cable instead of a set of three different cables as it was in older headsets.[1][2] The standard was supported by Nvidia, AMD, HTC Vive, Oculus VR, Valve, and Microsoft.[3] The VirtualLink Consortium was chaired by Rambo Jacoby representing Nvidia.[citation needed] VirtualLink never launched successfully.
AMD was originally supposed to support it and they were also part of the consortium.
@MrMagic Yeah, but it was already dead when psvr2 was in development and only Nvidia ever commercially released it. It was dead before PS5 launched. Maybe they intended at at a concept level early on but they already knew in the 2.5 years leading up to it's launch while it was still in development that standard was dead.
If it was intended for PC from the start those features wouldn't be disabled.
Ah I see, classic big business pivot and retroactive change of the narrative to try and fool people so they can clear inventory that's not shifting. Taken with the price cut, that makes perfect sense. The fact the PC adapter arrived late and doesn't support the full feature set is a dead giveaway it wasn't planned at all.
@Futureshark
All thanks to the PSVR2 PC aFAPter.
better than nothing i suppose
Sony planned it so well, they 90% of the psvr2 features can't be used on pc at all, and you need to buy a seperate adapter...
/S
Let's face it, they barely planned it for the ps5 considering it has no first party games.
@MrMagic nor did the serious lack of any games for the psvr2, Sony has an awful track record of first party support for its add on hardware.
@donv2135 at that price point there are many better headsets, many that are wireless with far better lens tech. I honestly don't see the point of this.
Lol Sony, ever the narcissist. “Yeah we totally meant for this to be used on PC” but mention only after the fact.
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