PowerWash Simulator developer FuturLab has announced that it will not continue with plans to support PowerWash Simulator VR. CEO Kirsty Rigden says that the team loves and supports VR, but with some unfilled vacancies on the primary team, job security for the studio must always come first.
FuturLab made the announcement on X (thanks, Eurogamer), and Rigden maintains that the move does not rule out future VR support. But right now, as the VR team costs more to maintain than it makes, consolidating the two teams seemed like a no-brainer. Rigden said of the decision: "While I know that you must be so disappointed, I also know that if you were in my position, you would have made the same decision."
Some fans had held out hope that PowerWash Simulator VR would eventually be released for PSVR2, perhaps once DLC development was complete. Alas, that dream now seems further away than ever.
How healthy is the current state of VR? Does it feel like it has a place in an industry where even seemingly safe AAA bets continue to blow up in developers' faces? Become completely immersed in the comments section below.
[source x.com]
Comments 14
Great to have more confirmation that VR is largely failed tech for most games. Makes Playstations lack of investment more sensible. Great that they're not being laid off either.
Shame because it was great fun on the Quest 3. Would’ve definitely bought it again if they made a PSVR2 version.
Would have been great but PSVR2 is hit and miss with what comes to it anyway. Hoping for a better year, this would have been a great get! Oh well, better that the team exists at all
@breakneck great to have confirmation you reckon? It's not failed tech for most games if it's not an option for most games. The investment for GT7 was without doubt worth it as anyone who's played it on the VR2 will attest to.
Just because you don't have interest in something personally doesn't make it unworthy of investment.
Perhaps some of that Concord money would have been better 'invested' in a well known Sony IP coming to the VR space to drag in those like yourself who're yet to understand its potential.
@maybemaybemaybe Ah yes because it is going so well for for the industry leaders Meta who had to shutter one of the most prestigious VR Devs because they're making so much money on VR.
https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/survey-says-half-of-developers-consider-vr-market-on-decline-or-stagnation
@breakneck fully agree game studios invested less in novel games, good game play, and stories due to VR, not because game studios tried to chase the golden GAAS goose and focused on skins and other micro transactions, or because they underestimated the investments to create hyper realistic graphics. Its good that studios finally stop focusing on new technologies ore innovations. Who wants more immersive, novel games anyway ? What really matters are diamonds on the next fifa outfit. /s
VR was always a high end extra if you could afford wanted that sort of gaming experience then there you go it's available. But it was never going to be a massive breakthrough for next level gaming, it's a bit like 3D glasses back on the late 80s it was a fad that died sooner than it started.
3D TVs and Blu Ray players as well but as mentioned above investment wasn't massive except of your Meta/Facebook which to be honest waisted billions into
@Nakatomi_Uk I think it'll remain a high end extra for a while, although the price of good hardware is coming down. Just like the PS5 Pro there is a market for lower volume higher end tech.
No one's kidding themselves that VR is going to take over mainstream gaming or get large scale investment outside Meta any time soon, but the experience is awesome and was a good point of difference for Sony vs competitors (while xbox existed).
Powerwash simulator isn't exactly a system seller either so not really reflective of the wider space.
This is a real shame. VR will simply always be better than non VR in most games.
Unfortunately, until all platforms have VR, and until the price drops, there will always be vehement groups online who do their best to destroy the market through ignorance and misinformation just because they don’t have access.
Anyway, a few multi platform VR devs have stated that their PSVR version is outselling the Meta version so perhaps Powerwash would have sold well on PSVR but I guess we will never know, which for me personally is their loss as I already have too many great VR games to play.
@therootfoldroot1
Indeed, sad reflection of modern day society imo.
Well apparently Powerwash VR on Quest had some serious latency/lagging issues where it would sometimes go as low as 36fps. That would turn a lot of people off it and probably make someone sick as well.
Shame they didn't release it on PSVR2 and PCVR because that would likely not be an issue on non-standalone headsets.
@breakneck just say you're broke lol
man, I miss old times when videogames were niche entertainment for nerds. Now everything is a failed technology if it didn't sell millions of copies
I was always hoping the game would receive PCVR support, but it's understandable on why the team decided to axe it.
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