Sony is reportedly decreasing its investment in virtual reality gaming, with the publisher said to have only two first-party games in development for its PlayStation VR2 headset.
In a new report from Android Central, sources close to the outlet claimed that Sony is "making deep cuts to funding for VR games," making for "very few opportunities" for in-house VR games in the future. Android Central's report also claimed that only two first-party games for the PlayStation VR2 are in development.
Sony did not immediately respond to IGN's request for comment.
If the claim that Sony is slashing investment in VR games is true, the company would not be the only one pulling back support on VR. In February, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot revealed that the publisher did not plan to increase investment in additional VR games due to the disappointing sales performance of Assassin's Creed Nexus VR.
PlayStation VR2's bumpy road
The PlayStation VR2 was released last year, though the headset has seemingly lost momentum since. Despite the PSVR2's impressive technical features, such as eye-tracking, its steep price, the requirement to own a PS5, and the lack of new VR games that are not ports, optional VR modes, or multiplatform releases, are often cited as reasons why people will not invest when headsets like the Meta Quest 2 or Quest 3 are more competitively price, do not require additional hardware to run, and have several first-party exclusives.
In March 2023, Bloomberg reported that the PSVR2 got off to a slow start despite Sony allegedly making two million units before release. In December 2023, Sony Interactive Entertainment's head of global business, Eric Lempel, told the Financial Times that VR was "a bit of a challenging category right now." Then, in March this year, Bloomberg reported that Sony had paused production of new PSVR2 units as it tried to move unsold units it had yet to ship.
Meanwhile, well-known PSVR developers First Contact Entertainment and London Studio have closed. Earlier this year, I reported that it seemed Sony had abandoned the PSVR2, with one source at a developer of at least one major PSVR2 game telling me that Sony would only market their game exclusively through posts on the PlayStation Blog, and any additional marketing had to be done by the developer or the publisher.
While Sony announced last month that a PC adapter for the PSVR2 will be available on August 7, letting PSVR2 players play PC VR-exclusive games like Half-Life: Alyx, several of the headset's signature features, such as eye-tracking, HDR, and adaptive triggers will not be available. The adapter doesn't come with everything required to plug in and play.
In our 9/10 review of the PSVR2, IGN wrote: "With top-notch visual quality and immersively tactile Sense controllers, PlayStation VR2 represents a quantum leap over its predecessor, setting a new standard for console VR gaming."
Taylor is a Reporter at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.
