Sony Interactive Entertainment has shared the design of its new virtual reality headset, the PlayStation VR2, and revealed some new design details of the PlayStation VR2 Sense controller. White with black accents, like the PlayStation 5, the PS VR2 headset continues the “orb” look of the PS VR2 Sense controller, whose circular look is intended to reflect the “360-degree view that players feel when they enter the virtual reality world,” according to the company. The VR2 is slimmer and lighter than its predecessor, and adds a lens adjustment dial to optimize the view and new side vents.

“Our goal is to create a headset that will not only become an attractive part of your living room decor, but will also keep you immersed in your game world, to the point where you almost forget you are using a headset or controller,” PlayStation senior vice president, platform experience Hideaki Nishino writes on the company blog. A built-in motor for headset feedback and tiny PlayStation symbols added to the front and back bands of the PS VR2 headset are additional features.

While the PlayStation VR was “the original affordable VR headset, requiring neither a beefy gaming PC nor $800 worth of additional gear,” at more than five years old, “it’s definitely due for an upgrade,” writes The Verge, noting that while the older headset works with the PS5 using an adapter, “the experience is decidedly last-gen.”

The PlayStation VR2 headset “supports haptic feedback, eye tracking, 4K HDR, 90/120Hz frame rates, foveated rendering, and a field of view of 110 degrees, and it connects to the PS5 with a single USB-C cable.” User posts to the PlayStation blog welcome haptic as an antidote to VR-induced motion sickness and lamented the fact that the VR2 headset is not wireless (although the controllers are, according to specs).

Competing with headsets “like the computer-free [Meta] Quest 2, the finger-tracking Valve Index, and the high-resolution HP Reverb G2,” now “Sony has to prove that it can still provide a compelling experience (and the games to go with it),” The Verge says. IGN features side-by-side tech spec comparisons with the Quest 2 in which the VR2 competes favorably.

The company announced at CES 2022 that the first game made with PS VR2 optimization in mind is “Horizon Call of the Mountain,” which the company says that when used with the VR2 Sense controllers will “give a new meaning to being fully immersed into the world of Horizon.”

Sony has yet to announce a price or release date for the PS VR2 and Sense contollers.

Related:
Sony Is Rolling Out a Way to Share PS5 Clips from the PS App, Engadget, 2/23/22