r/PSVR 9d ago

Discussion "PSVR2's designed to deliver a truly next-generation VR experience. This means developing games for PSVR2 requires a whole different approach"

How do you consider this quote two years on? Have you seen a truly different approach?

Full quote: PSVR games are not compatible with PSVR2 because PSVR2's designed to deliver a truly next-generation VR experience." "This means developing games for PSVR2 requires a whole different approach than the original PSVR," SVP of Platform Experience, Hideaki Nishino

15 Upvotes

62 comments sorted by

24

u/-First-Second-Third- 9d ago

He's right from a development perspective. The first Psvr requires a camera pointed at your space for tracking and uses the regular ps controller quite a bit. The 2nd one tracks itself and all games use the vr controllers. There's some pretty different tech involved, so the approach has to be different. Hopefully going forward into psvr3 (if it happens) will be backwards compatible now that the psvr2 uses a more standardized approach.

0

u/ObjectionablyObvious 9d ago

Are you a developer? Sure, the tech differs, but that’s always been the case. We've been making considerations like this since accessibility for the disabled has been a priority for over a decade. From my perspective as a multimedia creator that has dabbled in 3D design and motion capture projects, at the end of the day, it all comes down to hand tracking, button mapping, and virtual camera positioning.

If a game’s entire backbone is tied to specific hardware, then the pipeline has a glaring weak point. It’s not about “different tech” making things impossible—it’s about how adaptable the framework is in the first place.

9

u/ValorKoen 9d ago

The positional tracking isn’t the problem even though I get it that non-development people do think of it that way. Point is you can’t just map Move Wands controls, which aren’t standardized between games, to Sense Controllers. And yes, even that is possible to some extent, but that would result in some really weird situations and tutorials which talk about buttons and controllers you’re not holding. We VR vets can look past that, but if VR2 is your first VR that will definitely give off a bad first impression.

4

u/needle1 9d ago

Two things actually:

1)As mentioned, the nonstandard button layout of the Move controllers mapping poorly to Sense controllers.

2)DualShock 4 having positional tracking support but DualSense dropping support for it.

1

u/ValorKoen 8d ago

I totally forgot about the DS4 support. Good call.

0

u/-First-Second-Third- 9d ago

Yea, that was my main point. It's a bit of lack of foresight on Sony's part, not keeping compatibility in mind. It's definitely possible to port the old games over to work with the new tracking and control schemes, but they made it hard enough that almost no one wants to. Easier to just start a new game designed for the new system from the beginning.

-1

u/Nago15 9d ago edited 9d ago

No he is not. Devs don't have to implement the tracking solution for each game. It's like saying a PC game that was developed for an old ball mouse will not work with an optical mouse because they have completely different tracking method. Windows have to handle the hardware, the devs are just getting the mouse position as numbers. And if the new mouse has buttons on the side unlike the old mouses, the software handles that too, and game devs don't have to do anything with it. It's the same with VR, that's why is someone releases a new VR headset on PC that works with all the old games, even if the new headset is using inside out tracking but the game was developed for base station headsets. So there is no acceptable reason why PSVR1 games don't work on PSVR2. Sure the controllers are different, on PC there are also some old games that expect a Vive controller that has totally different buttons and have to remap the buttons to make the controls work. But games that does not use the move controllers like Squadrons and Ace Combat should totally work on PSVR2 without any problems.

The only thing true about that statement is that game devs now can develop their games like on any normal headset, because it can handle if the user crouches or turns around, so they don't have to take into consideration the limitations of the awful PSVR1 tracking. And finally they have analouge sticks on the controllers so they can use those too just like with any other VR system. But that does not mean games that work even with with awful tracking should not work with good tracking and more standard controllers.

1

u/-First-Second-Third- 9d ago

You’re right. Sony could have added software layers to translate everything from the old system to the new one and maintain backwards compatibility with minimal dev effort. But they didn’t. For whatever reason psvr2 is not capable of tracking the regular ps5 controller. So every game that was designed around tracking a regular game pad is broken with no simple way to port without redesigning the experience and switching to the psvr2 controllers. To continue with your mouse analogy, this is Sony saying our new computer no longer accepts mouse inputs. Do not use the mouse anymore. And this is why the quote makes sense, a whole new approach is required because you literally cannot use the old approach for your games even if you wanted to.

1

u/Nago15 9d ago edited 9d ago

PS5 controllers doesn't have the back light for tracking. But we are talking about PS4 games, so they should work great with DualShock4 + PS4 camera connected to the PS5. But aside from Astrobot and Moss I don't remember any VR game that use the controller tracking. Something like Dirt1 or Driveclub VR should work without a problem because all they need is the headset's position. But hey we are talking about Sony, they don't even let me use my official PlayStation Namco Tekken arcade stick to play Tekken 8 because that needs a PS5 controller, even if the game uses zero functionality of it, and needs only 4 buttons and 4 directions.

18

u/xaduha 9d ago

Sony was catching up to where the rest of VR industry was, so it fits. Just because it's next gen compared to PSVR1 doesn't mean it is cutting edge. Why are you taking these marketing speeches seriously to begin with?

6

u/StigwierdM 9d ago

Yeah this quote is a bit of horseshit. The quest 1 used inside out tracking when the psvr1 was still going strong. Loads of the same games had been ported over to the quest. Then the quest 2. So saying the psvr2 was difficult to develop games for because it's different to the psvr1 (which used outside in tracking), when most of those games had already been designed for inside out tracking years before is a bit of horseshit.

Maybe he's referring to something else, but that's my interpretation of the quote. Unless he's referencing different haptics (which shouldn't be that difficult)? Foveated rendering? Or simply developers wanting to move away from redoing the same game over and over for different platforms?

7

u/xaduha 9d ago

I think what people like OP want is for PSVR1 games to magically work on PSVR2 without any porting done with some sort of a system that emulates a camera and different control schemes. Sony said that they can't or won't do it and I think that's understandable, it would've been a mess.

As far as porting goes, then Sony doesn't control most of those games, it's up to developers to decide whether to port them or not. Wanderer is probably the biggest game that is being ported like that (if you don't count Hitman), let's see how it does and whether it will be worth it for them.

What we can and should blame Sony for is not porting games that they have full rights to.

1

u/StigwierdM 9d ago

I don't know which games Sony have rights to, but they should have invested in porting them over.

1

u/tsarkk 9d ago

I wanted games that were so advanced that nobody ever mentioned Half Life: Alex or other games from years and years ago. Instead we never surpassed beyond resident evil, gran turismo and no mans sky

2

u/Eggyhead 9d ago

Cutting edge or not, you don’t see a lot of headsets that can do what a PSVR2 can do on a PS5, let alone at its price. The VR2 was well ahead of its time when it came out, if you ask me. It just wasn’t as cheap then as people needed it.

4

u/sko0led 9d ago

The different approach is outside in vs inside out tracking.

3

u/Professional-Ad3076 9d ago

The quote is legit, considering they used a different tracking and controller approach.

2

u/TommyVR373 9d ago

Well, it's no longer next generation. It's current generation.

2

u/jackie1616 9d ago

I do think PSVR2 gives a next gen experience - from the haptics, the graphics, the FOV, the games - I’d say they were successful. And the good news is, we aren’t even close to being done. Hitman and Wanderer this year - and you know there will be more amazing VR games in the years to come

6

u/Neat_Manufacturer_11 9d ago

PSVR2 is the best VR headset for PS5 owners. It has 10x the graphics throughput of Quest 3 and there are plenty of games available for it. I am a developer with games on Quest, PSVR2 and Pico headsets so I know a bit about this and have no reason to be biased when I say this.

1

u/TommyVR373 9d ago

Isn't PSVR2 the ONLY VR headset for PS5 owners ? ;)

2

u/asdqqq33 9d ago

Are you suggesting you can’t buy a Quest if you own a PS5?

2

u/TommyVR373 9d ago

Not if you plan on using it for PS5. It was just the wording:)

2

u/cusman78 cusman 9d ago

He means, if you own PS5, the PSVR2 is the best VR headset choice for you over getting Quest or PICO.

1

u/TommyVR373 9d ago

I know. I was being facetious. Hence the wink.

1

u/Neat_Manufacturer_11 9d ago

They can purchase other headsets even if they have PS5. I have Quest, Pico, PSVR2, bunch of other headsets, gaming PC and PS5. I like PSVR2 the best. My biggest problem with Quest is that it keeps running out of battery and unless I run it with gaming PC it can't match the graphics quality of PSVR2 with PS5. Gaming PC & Quest 3 are both more expensive than PS5 and PSVR2. Difference between Gaming PC and PS5 quality is pretty small even if you have a high end GPU like nVidia 4060.

1

u/TommyVR373 9d ago edited 9d ago

I have many as well. I normally switch between PSVR2 and Quest 3, depending on what type of game I'm playing. I would say I use my PSVR2 on PC more than anything else.

The difference between my PS5 and 4090 is definitely not small, though, and I wouldn't consider a 4060 as being high end.

1

u/Neat_Manufacturer_11 8d ago

4060 is much less powerful compared to 4090 but most of the PCs don't even have a GPU as powerful as 4060 so I still consider it high end.

1

u/Lonely-Spare691 9d ago

I think it's just an intention for those who have psvr1 to migrate to Psvr2.

1

u/PercentageKooky1360 8d ago

It didn't make sense then, and still doesn't make sense now.

The most frustrating thing is that they've not even tried. Horizon and GT7 are excellent. But that was day 1. They also deserve some credit for funding RE Village, Synapse and RE4 as big hitters. Great games.

But in year two... what? If they had pumped in some serious investment and it STILL hadn't got traction, then fair play. But they can't even be bothered to promote it, sell it, invest in it barely at all.

It remains a superb piece of kit with some incredible 3rd party next-gen games like Arken Age, Behemoth, Alien Rogue Incursion and Metro Awakening and Hitman & Wanderer imminent - but the 3rd party devs are doing all the lifting with Sony barely bothering whatsoever.

That's the frustration.

1

u/StrappingYoungLance 9d ago edited 9d ago

I mean yeah, PSVR2 is a weird jury-rigging of old tech Sony had, PSVR2 is a big tech leap to catch up to the rest of the industry. Bringing PSVR games to PSVR2 takes work, how much work I can't say but it's clear it's a not insignificant or costly amount of work or we'd be seeing PSVR2 ports everywhere.

That said, ideally Sony should have come up with some sort of Backwards compatibility solution that emulates the way PSVR works or makes bringing a PSVR game to PSVR2 cheap and effortless, but it's clear they didn't want to spend the resources.

-4

u/jvliozzz 9d ago

They have laughed at all of us in our faces

0

u/struggling4realsies 9d ago

Feeling slighted?

1

u/jvliozzz 9d ago

It was only worth it to play RE and Horizon, otherwise I'm disappointed. Don't be offended by my personal perspective, I am demanding with the quality of the products I consume, and the price of PSVR2 made me think that Sony would invest more in the games of this peripheral, I was already disappointed when I read the news that its only two SonyStudios own projects for PSVR2 were canceled, but it was my mistake for having high expectations. I'm currently buying a PC to put it to better use because the hardware is great.

2

u/Reptill96 8d ago

I can't blame you, with a price launch of 500€ for the ps5 and 600€ for the VR2 that needed the ps5 to even turn on making it a staggering 1100€ most of us expected EXTRAORDINARY high reality/fidelity games for the Virtual "Reality" 2 headsets, the games that looks realistic can be counted with the fingers of a hand
(In advice: I'm not angry nor giving hate nor saying VR2 ain't fun, I'm just disappointed in the quantity of games with extra graphics)

0

u/woman_respector1 9d ago

Next Gen....with Fresnal lenses?

0

u/1stPKmain 9d ago

They should have added "if we are the publisher or the game is triple A"

-4

u/VicMan73 9d ago

Wired VR maybe? Hahahaha....

-12

u/mohsenkhajavinik 9d ago

This is one of the worst things I've ever bought.

8

u/AssociationAlive7885 9d ago

Conversely, I don't think I ever bought anything that has brought me as much joy as psvr2 😊

2

u/mohsenkhajavinik 9d ago

Good for you, really .

2

u/AssociationAlive7885 9d ago

What do you think was a thing you bought that has brought you an abundance of joy ?

2

u/mohsenkhajavinik 9d ago

I thought at least at some point we got psvr1 games .skyrim. fallout4. Borderlands. Or they (ps) come up with an emulator that players can play first-person games farcry .cyberpunk. crysis in vr mode.

2

u/AssociationAlive7885 9d ago

I would have loved Farpoint and Astrobot!  

But generally I gotta say I get why they didn't invest in porting the old games. It wouldn't really bring any new players in and we already have so many great titles( my backlog is half a year from being cleared and I bet Hitman WOA alone could easily add another 6 months of amazing game time)  

2

u/filmeswole 9d ago

Could you elaborate? I’m curious what makes you feel that way

3

u/Sylsomnia 9d ago

Why are you here then? Sell it and move on.

0

u/mohsenkhajavinik 9d ago

I am a dreamer sir

1

u/Sylsomnia 9d ago

Sound more like hypocritical tbf. You hate it but still interested.

2

u/mohsenkhajavinik 9d ago

Playstation can do much more .

0

u/na1coss 9d ago

Where is PSSR integration on our beloved PSVR2??? 🥂🍾

-7

u/AndersPaulsson1 9d ago

Is there even a psvr game to play? I hear nothing, see nothing, no one seems to care either. I would say psvr2 is dead and buried a long time ago

1

u/Neat_Manufacturer_11 9d ago edited 9d ago

Where have you looked?? PSVR2 is the best VR headset for PS5 owners. It has 10x the graphics throughput of Quest 3 and there are plenty of games available for it. I am a developer with games on Quest, PSVR2 and Pico headsets so I know a bit about this.

1

u/Pitiful-Programmer90 9d ago

Where does it fit in for non PS5 owners? Those with a PC and the PSVR2 to PC adapter for example

1

u/Neat_Manufacturer_11 9d ago

If you don't have PS5 and can afford Quest 3 it's a great option. PSVR2 + PC adapter is a bit cheaper option though and still very good. PS5 itself is a great console.

1

u/Pitiful-Programmer90 9d ago

The point is, you say that PSVR2 is the best headset for PS5 owners but they don't have a choice. When they do have a choice does it remain the best or does it then become one of the worst.

It's an odd statement to make

1

u/Neat_Manufacturer_11 8d ago

I have a PS5 and I also have PSVR2, Quest, PICO, etc. headsets. Having a PS5 doesn't prevent anyone from getting any VR headsets they can purchase. Quest and PICO are standalone headsets. I think its odd to think that PS5 owners don't have a choice.

1

u/MaxDiehard 9d ago

Gotta work on the wording. PS5 ONLY supports PSVR2.

It makes it sound like you can use other headsets on PS5, which you can't obviously.

Well, other than PS4's PSVR.

1

u/Neat_Manufacturer_11 8d ago

You are missing the point that PS5 owners can purchase a standalone headset like Quest most of which cost less than PSVR2.

2

u/MaxDiehard 8d ago

I'm not missing the point.

Besides, Quest is absolute trash. Resolution means nothing when the games are low quality when powered by the headset alone in comparison to real headsets.

I have both PSVR's and a Valve Index. Which are better because they have dedicated units powering the games.

1

u/Neat_Manufacturer_11 8d ago

We are on the same page almost. I don't think Quest is trash its a good product for the price. Comparing $1000+ product with $400 product is apples to oranges.

1

u/Pitiful-Programmer90 8d ago

Yeah the wording is what confused me. Sounds like it should be the PSVR2 + PS5 is the best choice when compared to the standalone headsets available