Sony reveals the design of its next VR headset, the PlayStation VR2

Planned for the PS5 console, this headset has no release date or price yet.

The electronics giant Sony unveiled on Tuesday the design of its virtual reality headset for its PlayStation 5 console, showing its ambitions on this market that is gaining momentum. The Japanese group had launched a first such accessory in 2016 for its previous machine.

This PlayStation VR 2, similar to a white and black headband with rounded, sleek lines like the PS5, is intended to be visually more futuristic and more pleasant to wear. Its release date and price are not yet known.

“We already had an almost perfect headset with the first model so we didn’t want to fundamentally change the user experience. What I wanted to change was to make it smaller and a bit lighter,” Yujin Morisawa, its designer, told AFP.

Details revealed gradually

Sony unveils little by little the elements of its helmet. He had already shown the controllers, as well as a few seconds of a game from the saga PlayStation Horizon. He had also revealed technical features, such as a high-definition Oled screen, four integrated cameras to track movements in space and a vibration system to enhance immersion in the games.

It is also adjustable to fit every body type and people who wear glasses. Openings also allow air to circulate to prevent fogging, Morisawa said, noting that the difficulty in designing the device is that it must be worn on the body.

5 million sales for PlayStation VR1

Sony has managed to sell more than five million copies of its first headset in the world, making it one of the best-selling models in a market that is growing gradually and includes among its representatives the Meta Quest 2 of the American giant Meta (parent company of Facebook).

According to a study by PwC, the virtual reality sector, which brought in some 1.8 billion dollars in sales in 2020, will grow by an average of about 30% each year between now and 2025, to reach nearly 7 billion dollars by then.

In the console market, Sony is the only manufacturer to have taken this route so far. But this sector is the focus of attention as the metaverse develops, a network of interconnected virtual spaces accessible through augmented or virtual reality glasses, in which Meta and Microsoft are particularly interested.