We’re less than a week away from the launch of the PlayStation VR2 and, right on time, the embargoes have dropped and the first reviews of the new headset are out. So, what’s the verdict?
I took a look through quite a few reviews from The Verge, IGN, Kotaku, Gamespot, and Engadget. While the reviewers sure enjoyed getting to try out the latest generation of virtual reality for the PlayStation 5, the experience didn’t come without its quirks.
While the technology built into the headset is surely next-gen, one of the main issues with the PlayStation VR2 is that the library of games is quite small at launch. That, of course, will change, but it is notable that anyone buying the $549 headset at launch will have a limited choice compared to more established headsets from Meta and Valve.
Another common complaint is that reviewers had to deal with the cord. The PS VR2 isn’t wireless and requires a cord to be attached to the PlayStation 5 while playing. The Meta Quest, in comparison, offers a cordless setup. Of course, dealing with the cord right now is what gets you that higher performance, higher fidelity experience, so that’s a tradeoff that users will need to decide what’s more important to them.
The PS VR2 is also incompatible with games for the original PS VR. So, if you had the original headset, you’ll need to keep that around in order to play those games. It would be great to see PlayStation bring backward compatibility to original PS VR games and use the upgraded technology of the PS VR2 to improve them, but there’s no indication as to when or if that might happen.
Those issues aside, it sounds like PlayStation pulled off what it set out to do — create a next-gen VR headset with enough specs to set developers up with a lot of potential going forward. If you’re wondering where it lands in a score of 1-10, the general scores range in between 7-10.
It’s always fun to see the review in video format, especially to watch people hop around playing the games. Here are some review videos to check out:
The PlayStation VR2 is set to go on sale on February 22, 2023, and costs a whopping $549, $50 more than the cost of the disc version of the PS5. It’s still available for preorder as well, if you’re looking to take that leap.
