Shameless evangelising of PSVR2 via PSVR1 nostalgia - there’s no stopping this train

[Primal Sage]

No roadmap means no games are coming for it.

...is a popular sentiment on Era.

But when PSVR1 came out in October of 2016 we had only known the final launch lineup 8 days prior. And as for future titles? The only future title of note we really knew about was Resident Evil 7 which came out January 2017. And we know of a lot of titles that are in development for PSVR2.

Software support for PSVR2 will only be slightly better than PSVR1

...to which my reply would be "that would be awesome!".

Most people who never were PSVR1 owners or who dumped the system pretty quickly because the tracking was sub-optimal (it was based on PS3 hardware) aren't aware how many great titles the system got. The players aren't entirely to blame since the big outlets really dropped the ball rather quickly when it came to VR coverage. It became up to the enthusiasts and VR focused youtubers to cover the sector.

It's no big secret that PSVR2 was supposed to come out around 2020-2021 but was postponed due to chip shortages, the pandemic, and developers' production getting delayed. But even so, 2021 was still a remarkably good year when it came to software for PSRV1. That's five years after the release of this so called "unsupported" peripheral. Five years of great games. Fun games. Well-known Sony IPs? Not many, but Sony kept doing deals and funded other developers efforts. PSVR1 had lots of software support with more than 600 titles. For a peripheral costing as much as the console. More if you factored in the needed accessories such as camera and Move Controllers.

Here are some of the highlights from the lifespan of PSVR1. Some of them are AAA. Some of them are impressive from a graphical or gameplay standpoint. Some of them are just plain good. Use the list to get acquainted with some of the highlights on the platform. Feel the nostalgia if you were a PSVR1 gamer. And please, post your own suggestions if there is a favourite of yours that I have forgotten.

Note, I have marked in blue those titles that so far are confirmed as being ported to PSVR2. Those who have a confirmed crossbuy are marked as such. The same for those confirmed as not being crossbuy. The rest, we are still awaiting confirmation.


PSVR1 notable releases by year after launch:


2016:
Superhot VR: December
Arizona Sunshine: December

2017:
Dirt Rally: February
Farpoint: May
Raw Data: October
Skyrim VR: November
Rec Rooom: November
Doom VFR: December

2018:
Moss Book 1: February (Deluxe version coming to PSVR2. No Crossbuy)
Wipeout Omega Collection: March
The Persistence: July
Firewall Zero Hour: August (Deluxe version coming to PSVR2. No Crossbuy)
Astrobot Rescue Mission: October
Tetris Effect: November
Beat Saber: November
In Death: November
Borderlands 2 VR: December
Red Matter: December

2019:
Immortal Legacy: The Jade Cipher: March
Sairento VR: May
No Man's Sky VR support: August (crossbuy)
Blood And Truth: May
L.A. Noire: The VR Case Files: September
Ghost Giant: November

2020:
The Room VR: A Dark Matter: March
The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners 1: May
Iron Man VR: July
The Walking Dead Onslaught: September
Dreams: July
Pistol Whip: July (crossbuy)
Until You Fall: September
Star Wars: Squadrons: October

2021:
Wanderer: January
Hitman 3 VR support: January
Doom 3 VR: March
Maskmaker: April
Sniper Elite VR: July
Demagnete: July
Synth Riders: August
Fracked: August
Arashi Castles of Sin: September
Song in the Smoke: October
After The Fall: December (crossbuy)

2022:
Moss Book 2: March (Deluxe version coming to PSVR2. No Crossbuy)
Lucky's Tale: April
Stride: April
Surv1v3: December
The Tale of Onogoro: December (Crossbuy)

2023:
The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners 2: March 2023


(TLDR: Don't worry. There will be plenty of games for PSVR2. PSVR1 had plenty of games)

 

[Kalentan]

Keep fighting the good fight Primal Sage.

 

[Deleted member 93062]

I'm really not sure if PSVR moved the needle on VR adoption in general. Your claim suggests that PSVR2 is fine because PSVR also had same amount of games, but is PSVR the goal for VR2?

 

[VoltySquirrel]

The price is the problem not the games

 

[Primal Sage]

I'm really not sure if PSVR moved the needle on VR adoption in general. Your claim suggests that PSVR2 is fine because PSVR also had same amount of games, but is PSVR the goal for VR2?

Click to shrink...

No, I expect it to top PSVR1 in less than two years.

The software was never the problem with PSVR1. The hardware was. And those issues aren't there when it comes to PSVR2.

 

[Deleted member 93062]

No, I expect it to top PSVR1 in less than two years.

The software was never the problem with PSVR1. The hardware was. And those issues aren't there when it comes to PSVR2.

Click to shrink...

Realistically, most average Joes don't know anything about VR screen resolution, refresh rate, etc. Not sure how much hardware solves it. It mostly comes down to appealing games and price.

 

[Zukkoyaki]

Naw. It's because it's a very expensive device, that requires another very expensive device, and is a piece of tech that most people still view as little more than a neat gimmick.

 

[Valet Jay]

It's PS VR2 by the way.

Anyway, I feel like there is less hype surrounding VR in general. Although, I could be very wrong; I haven't looked at sales numbers in quite a long time. Maybe there has been an upward trend this whole time. I personally do not think Sony wants to spend the money to help it become successful. This reminds me too much like the Vita, where they will slowly spend less money making their own games and experiences and rely on third-party developers to keep the niche afloat.

 

[PepperedHam]

Era is not where I go to find good takes on VR (besides this OP of course).

 

[joeblow]

Era is not where I go to find good takes on VR (besides this OP of course).

Click to shrink...

If the OP made a new topic post for each of the various derailment attempts in the main PSVR2 thread, Era's hard drives would run out of space to contain them.

 

[Deleted member 129013]

No, I expect it to top PSVR1 in less than two years.

The software was never the problem with PSVR1. The hardware was. And those issues aren't there when it comes to PSVR2.

Click to shrink...

This. Sinking into the seat in DriveClub at launch for PSVR1 was insane, along with the constant drift in other games requiring you to recenter constantly

 

[DrFreeman]

I have no plan to buy a PS VR2 but judging from the excitement of VR fans it seems likely this thing is going to do very well.

There's some doom talk based on people assuming there are no big unique titles for it. I'd be very surprised if there aren't a couple of special games that we have no idea about.

 

[TitanicFall]

Batman VR, Resident Evil 7 VR?

 

[Hasney]

You're right, may as well wait and see if there's a price drop and the games though. They're still available for day 1 pre-order now, so it seems like there's no rush.

 

[808s & Villainy]

The price is the problem not the games

Click to shrink...

Yeah, until console peripheral headsets somehow come down to maybe $150-200 max, I think adoption will still be slow. People are willing to spend $70 for controllers now. I can see them spending up to 3x that for a headset (which includes its own controllers), but not much more than that unfortunately, even if the value proposition justifies the price

 

[ragolliangatan]

I think it's not going to be the amount of content that is going to be the driving force for it's success- it seems that there won't be a problem on that front- the price is the biggest barrier to entry this time out.

 

[BradenAndEggs]

Truckloads of money for what never really feels (from the outside) like "full" games. Just "experiences" (whatever that means.)

I'm an outsider to the VR thing and it doesn't really appeal to me. So discard my opinion if you need to.

Although, if it can't get someone like me who considers themselves a "gaming enthusiast," I don't know how it gets the casual market.

 

[cliophate]

At least the amount of games announced so far is huge!

 

[fixing ranger]

To play the devil's advocate, the novelty won't be here for many people. It's a great device for enthusiasts, but I'm not sure the casual crowd will be there.

I'm happy to be wrong. I love VR and I want people to experience it, and of course for devs to make more games.

 

[CubeApple76]

Idk, as a PSVR1 owner, for me the hardware wasn't really the issue. While it was obviously sub par, it was good enough for me, and for the wow factor to be there. The fact that it was a hassle to use, and not much exciting software was. I just don't think enough will change to make VR2 a significantly bigger success than VR1. Not to mention the price & lock behind PS5 hardware basically guarantees that it won't be a mainstream device. Also, I expect that for many the novelty of VR may have worn off. It was a fun thing to try out, but they didn't use it enough to drop another over 500$ on another headset that isn't even compatible with their previous games.

Personally I expect that it'll end up just slightly ahead of VR1 and that's about it.

 

[Deleted member 93062]

To play the devil's advocate, the novelty won't be here for many people. It's a great device for enthusiasts, but I'm not sure the casual crowd will be there.

I'm happy to be wrong. I love VR and I want people to experience it, and of course for devs to make more games.

Click to shrink...

I'm curious how many casuals got a Quest 2, barely use it, and now don't care for VR.

 

[bangai-o]

Yeah, I've wondered about Era posters' obsession with roadmaps.

 

[scar654]

One of the problems of the PSVR1 was that the controllers for it were discontinued too soon...

 

[Decarb]

Realistically, most average Joes don't know anything about VR screen resolution, refresh rate, etc. Not sure how much hardware solves it. It mostly comes down to appealing games and price.

Click to shrink...

The average joe does care about the setup mess that PSVR1 was about. Not to mention the additional hardware you had to buy if you just got the VR headset. The plug n play nature of VR2 is miles beyond what VR1 had.

 

[Raigor]

Don't fully agree OP.

Killer applications are what going to sell PSVR2, old ports and 5-ish hours experiences are not going to cut it.

We have yet to see if there's any major publisher backing PSVR2, because Sony alone is not going to be enough, especially when their top tier studios ain't making VR games from the looks of it (ND, Santa Monica etc...)

Sony not acquiring any VR-studio is also baffling but at the same time they killed Guerrilla Cambridge after they released their VR game and Manchester Studio didn't release anything before being shutdown as well, and they were working on VR too.

I might be totally wrong tho, this is just my impression.

 

[Bulby]

Im not into VR or have any informed opinion at all. But from a totally outsider perspective, there seemed to be a lot more buzz around PSVR1 that there is 2.

 

[Deleted member 93062]

The average joe does care about the setup mess that PSVR1 was about. Not to mention the additional hardware you had to buy if you just got the VR headset. The plug n play nature of VR2 is miles beyond what VR1 had.

Click to shrink...

Did the average Joe even know how the PSVR1 connected to their PS4 unless they bought one?

Anecdotally speaking, I was working at Target around that time and that would be a hard no.

 

[CubeApple76]

I'm curious how many casuals got a Quest 2, barely use it, and now don't care for VR.

Click to shrink...

I expect this is a fairly common situation

 

[1-D_FE]

People only get pissy here because it's framed as "Doomed". Why can't you believe it's not going to be a success?

PSVR wasn't a success. Neither was PCVR. Yes, PSVR sold 5 million units, but the software sales were terrible. Same with PCVR. It wasn't supporting new titles once devs learned there was no money there. Consumer VR was dire entering 2019.

So what's changed? Sony appears to be following the same unsuccessful playbook of the PSVR 1. And completely ignoring the Quest. People who own the Quest are not going to buy Quest ports on PSVR 2. They're not trading tether for slightly better graphics. So once again it's targeting only the hardcore (it seems) who already own the PS5. Which is why people here go ballistic if you mention you also need to buy a PS5. Because they can't fathom why anyone would love VR and want PS5 solely for VR. It breaks their mind. They can't compute this. Because they're the Sony hardcore who only buy Sony products and already own a PS5.

So it's going to come down to Sony being committed to a degree they never were with PSVR 1. That means tons of AAA ports/hybrids for VR. This is the niche they can own and really upend the market with. But there's no evidence Sony is doing this. You get Sony blog posts of "23 games for 2023" and it has a single VR title on it. So why are people getting so mad and trying to nuke the messenger? For this to be a true hit, it can't be PSVR 1 level support + Quest ports. Not a major success isn't the same as Bomba and it's annoying AF that people here are so binary with the hyperbole.

I'm curious how many casuals got a Quest 2, barely use it, and now don't care for VR.

Click to shrink...

We know from dev data that Quest had a way higher engagement/retention rate than either PSVR or PCVR. So if anything killed VR, it's PSVR1/PCVR.

 

[Decarb]

Did the average Joe even know how the PSVR1 connected to their PS4 unless they bought one?

Anecdotally speaking, I was working at Target around that time and that would be a hard no.

Click to shrink...

I'm sure people who even bought VR1 didn't know how to get the damn thing working without reading the illustration.

 

[LabRat]

i wish more of these would get PSVR2 ports like wipeout omega, rez infinite, tetris effect and blood and honor which will hopefully get a sequel too

 

[AllBizness]

PSVR2 will so fine, I just hate the fact that haters want to hate on VR for no good reason. I'm used to gamers embracing new tech even if they dont vibe with it. Seems so wierd that VR has so much hate. Personally I think it's just fanboys, but PSVR gets double hated on top of the hate VR already gets because it's not on PC and competing consoles have no VR option at all. This has got fanboys pretty pissed and jealous af.

 

[Kalentan]

People only get pissy here because it's framed as "Doomed". Why can't you believe it's not going to be a success?

PSVR wasn't a success. Neither was PCVR. Yes, PSVR sold 5 million units, but the software sales were terrible. Same with PCVR. It wasn't supporting new titles once devs learned there was no money there. Consumer VR was dire entering 2019.

So what's changed? Sony appears to be following the same unsuccessful playbook of the PSVR 1. And completely ignoring the Quest. People who own the Quest are not going to buy Quest ports on PSVR 2. They're not trading tether for slightly better graphics. So once again it's targeting only the hardcore (it seems) who already own the PS5. Which is why people here go ballistic if you mention you also need to buy a PS5. Because they can't fathom why anyone would love VR and want PS5 solely for VR. It breaks their mind. They can't compute this. Because they're the Sony hardcore who only buy Sony products and already own a PS5.

So it's going to come down to Sony being committed to a degree they never were with PSVR 1. That means tons of AAA ports/hybrids for VR. This is the niche they can own and really upend the market with. But there's no evidence Sony is doing this. You get Sony blog posts of "23 games for 2023" and it has a single VR title on it. So why are people getting so mad and trying to nuke the messenger? For this to be a true hit, it can't be PSVR 1 level support + Quest ports. Not a major success isn't the same as Bomba and it's annoying AF that people here are so binary with the hyperbole.

We know from dev data that Quest had a way higher engagement/retention rate than either PSVR or PCVR. So if anything killed VR, it's PSVR1/PCVR.

Click to shrink...

This post says a lot but then like...

If the PSVR was unsuccessful. We wouldn't have a PSVR2.

Vita was a failure, so we never got a Vita 2 or PSP3 or w/e it would have been called.

So for all your words on the original being a failure, clearly Sony doesn't think so.

 

[Deleted member 93062]

I'm sure people who even bought VR1 didn't know how to get the damn thing working without reading the illustration.

Click to shrink...

That doesn't change my question though. Marketing "plug and play" only matters to people who knew enough about PSVR to know how it was a hassle. Thinking that VR2 will be more successful because its plug and play doesn't make sense to me because I imagine the people who didn't buy the PSVR (which was a lot) probably didn't even think twice about how it connected to their console.

 

[Negatorous]

Realistically, most average Joes don't know anything about VR screen resolution, refresh rate, etc. Not sure how much hardware solves it. It mostly comes down to appealing games and price.

Click to shrink...

This, I did pre-order PSVR2 but I mentioned that I was hoping for more games. Someone replied that isn't 32 launch games enough for you? And it would be but when I look at the games there are maybe 3 or 4 of them that I would be interested in playing. I was hoping they would update PSVR1 games to work with this new system, and I hope someone makes a driver that will allow me to use the PSVR2 with my other VR games from Steam. I know it's a long shot but I can always sell the system if I am not happy with it after a year or so. But no doubt great games is what I want, I'm not well versed on the technical issues as of yet. I plan to be soon.

 

[Jencks]

Don't understand why you felt the need to make this thread

 

[Deleted member 93062]

This, I did pre-order PSVR2 but I mentioned that I was hoping for more games. Someone replied that isn't 32 launch games enough for you? And it would be but when I look at the games there are maybe 3 or 4 of them that I would be interested in playing. I was hoping they would update PSVR1 games to work with this new system, and I hope someone makes a driver that will allow me to use the PSVR2 with my other VR games from Steam. I know it's a long shot but I can always sell the system if I am not happy with it after a year or so. But no doubt great games is what I want, I'm not well versed on the technical issues as of yet. I plan to be soon.

Click to shrink...

There is a lot of defense when it comes to VR similar to cloud gaming. Personally I would love if it took off and had some more refined social features, especially if Nintendo ever tried their hand at VR. However there are facts like it's still expensive and there aren't many massive games that appeal to many people, Moss Book 2 isn't going to change that.

 

[Decarb]

That doesn't change my question though. Marketing "plug and play" only matters to people who knew enough about PSVR to know how it was a hassle. Thinking that VR2 will be more successful because its plug and play doesn't make sense to me because I imagine the people who didn't buy the PSVR (which was a lot) probably didn't even think twice about how it connected to their console.

Click to shrink...

Well it may be anecdotal but some of my friends didn't buy VR1 because of the breakout box and wired mess and the fact that it used last get tech for controllers, that you had to buy separately. They're all excited for one cable solution for VR2 and its controllers (although they preferred completely wireless).

 

[Raigor]

Personally I think it's just fanboys, but PSVR gets double hated on top of the hate VR already gets because it's not on PC and competing consoles have no VR option at all. This has got fanboys pretty pissed and jealous af.

Click to shrink...

lmao what a take

even if PSVR2 is on PC with this current line-up do you really think the """haters""" are going to care? old pcvr ports and quests 2 ports are not going to have people change their mind lol

even if ms tomorrow comes out with VR, nobody is going to care.

 

[Lothars]

People only get pissy here because it's framed as "Doomed". Why can't you believe it's not going to be a success?

PSVR wasn't a success. Neither was PCVR. Yes, PSVR sold 5 million units, but the software sales were terrible. Same with PCVR. It wasn't supporting new titles once devs learned there was no money there. Consumer VR was dire entering 2019.


We know from dev data that Quest had a way higher engagement/retention rate than either PSVR or PCVR. So if anything killed VR, it's PSVR1/PCVR.

Click to shrink...

VR isn't dead and the pretending that it is is the hilarous part. PSVR2 will do just fine and the framing it as you are is insane.

 

[Ovvv]

Don't understand why you felt the need to make this thread

Click to shrink...

Same reason we had a 15 page "is PSVR2 doomed" thread?

 

[fixing ranger]

This, I did pre-order PSVR2 but I mentioned that I was hoping for more games. Someone replied that isn't 32 launch games enough for you? And it would be but when I look at the games there are maybe 3 or 4 of them that I would be interested in playing. I was hoping they would update PSVR1 games to work with this new system, and I hope someone makes a driver that will allow me to use the PSVR2 with my other VR games from Steam. I know it's a long shot but I can always sell the system if I am not happy with it after a year or so. But no doubt great games is what I want, I'm not well versed on the technical issues as of yet. I plan to be soon.

Click to shrink...

Saying that 30+ games at launch is a lot is not completely honest. While it's true, pretty much nobody plays all available games, people maybe already played some of them, don't like certain genres, etc. For example, I like VR but there is not a single game I want to play on PSVR2 so far which I couldn't get on a PC.

 

[Dsezer]

Honestly, its very clear to me that VR is the future of gaming - we will see much more investment in time. Once we start getting games that can be played both traditionally as well as in VR, that's when I think VR will achieve main stream success. Titles like RE7, RE8, Half Life Alyx are amazing and any person that tries it (without issues like motion sickness) would be an instant convert.

 

[Ryengeku]

Some of them are AAA. Some of them are impressive from a graphical or gameplay standpoint. Some of them are just plain good.

Click to shrink...

Regarding the 2016 games, I'd say Rigs(Launch title-October) which was 1st party from Sony at the time was AAA-esque. And then there was Robinson: The Journey(November title) that was equally as great looking, if not AAA-esque by the Crysis devs, and then for 2017 should also include Starblood Arena(April) which had a good art-style and was like the Overwatch of VR but with space ships by the devs White Moon Dreams, who were also the people that made the multiple demo discs for PSVR as well.

 

[regenhuber]

Yeah, until console peripheral headsets somehow come down to maybe $150-200 max, I think adoption will still be slow. People are willing to spend $70 for controllers now. I can see them spending up to 3x that for a headset (which includes its own controllers), but not much more than that unfortunately, even if the value proposition justifies the price

Click to shrink...

To me the OG Kinect had the perfect price point for an add on device, was 150€ iirc near the end of the 360 lifecycle, when consoles could be had for pretty cheap.

In 2023 the price for a PS5 actually went up to 550€ and the headset is another 600€.
Casuals will not even consider this imo

 

[Negatorous]

There is a lot of defense when it comes to VR similar to cloud gaming. Personally I would love if it took off and had some more refined social features, especially if Nintendo ever tried their hand at VR. However there are facts like it's still expensive and there aren't many massive games that appeal to many people, Moss Book 2 isn't going to change that.

Click to shrink...

I kind of impulse pre-ordered it. I didn't have the PSVR 1 (I had the Oculus 2) so I wanted to jump on this. But now that I think about it, 500+ dollars is a lot of money lol. Eh I spend 60 bucks a day on scratch-off tickets so I'll make due. I almost always need to try out new gaming systems. There isn't one major system that I haven't owned, and a lot of the times both the Japanese and then the American versions (when they used to ship months to a year apart) So I will give this a whirl. It looks cool as fuck.

 

[Jencks]

Same reason we had a 15 page "is PSVR2 doomed" thread?

Click to shrink...

Could just post as a response in there

 

[Raigor]

Once we start getting games that can be played both traditionally as well as in VR, that's when I think VR will achieve main stream success.

Click to shrink...

you are never ever going to get this at all.

mainstream success for VR is going to be achieved with completely wireless headsets at an affordable price with games that people want to play and so far, Oculus is the only company trying to do this.

 

[DarthWalden]

I just think VR on the whole is kind of doomed.

Sony putting out a 550$ VR headset at this point that requires a 500$ console to operate feels like a bold decision with where we are in VR's life span (and where prices have been)
It better completely knock everyone's socks off for that price and to me it just looks like the same tech but fancier.
At this point virtually everyone who wanted to has tried it and I just don't see people knocking down the door and dropping thousands of dollars at this point.

I'd honestly be glad to be proven wrong here but it just has bomba written all over it in my eyes.

 

[Negatorous]

Saying that 30+ games at launch is a lot is not completely honest. While it's true, pretty much nobody plays all available games, people maybe already played some of them, don't like certain genres, etc. For example, I like VR but there is not a single game I want to play on PSVR2 so far which I couldn't get on a PC.

Click to shrink...

Saying that 30+ games at launch is a lot is not completely honest. While it's true, pretty much nobody plays all available games, people maybe already played some of them, don't like certain genres, etc. For example, I like VR but there is not a single game I want to play on PSVR2 so far which I couldn't get on a PC.

Click to shrink...

I agree and when you are spending almost 600 dollars for VR it would be nice to have a nice chunk of games that you want to play available in the first 6 months. I hope that is what happens. I wish Valve would port Half Life Alyx but they probably would never do that, they want to sell their own VR system.