The PlayStation VR2 will get a drastic price cut, but that might not be enough

This could revitalize the platform—or demonstrate that things aren't going well.

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[RickRoyLeonPrisZhoraRacha]

I've been waiting for a sale to pick up PSVR2 for PC use.


View: http://youtube.com/watch?v=m15JwT3_fN4

The third party user community Cyberpunk 2077 VR mod, now fairly mature, has has become so amazingly good (as long as you play seated - the youtube explains why).

The OLED blacks factor + night noir is key -- People are saying that PSVR2 OLED makes the CP2077 night noir look much better and atmospheric -- properly teleporting you into the world of CP2077.

Some of its fans are claiming it's worth the purchase of PSVR2 just to only play this game, even if you never use the headset again after.

I now see why based on a trial I did elsewhere, but I've been balking on the price of PSVR2 (I already have a capable rig, just the cost-increment of PSVR2 wasn't yet worth it just for occasional use). So this upcoming sale has me excited.

As long as your GPU can handle CP2077 with the great user-community VR mod, it's a rather unusual but interesting way to play the game and the modder community found a way to make it feel immersive and nearly-native, despite the lack of VR controller tracking, and ways to reduce nausea.

Since this mod recommends that you play seated anyway, the PSVR2 cable doesn't matter here, and the improved color / blacks really stands out far beyond the LCD VR headsets.

Some clever ergonomic/UX tricks were done to the CP2077 VR mod according to that youtuber -- and the many anecdotes that reassured that it does not feel "bolted on" despite a few key compromises mentioned -- so this got me interested in this VR mod. In addition to all that almost disbelievable fanatics claiming it's the best VR game they've ever played despite not being made for VR...

I wouldn't go that far to say that, but even on an old Quest 2 PCVR Link it definitely plays top 10% and feels AAA quality -- and it's more fun than Half Life Alyx (great as it was).

Key quote in youtuber description: "...Cyberpunk 2077 VR is ALMOST perfect after the new VR mod update which released in late December 2024..." as a great upgradefeel relative to early versions of the mod. From what I've seen so far, I agree -- but I've stopped playing further into DLC (Liberty) storyline until I get a cheap discounted PSVR2.

Note: you need the $60 Sony PC PSVR2 adapter, in order to use a PSVR2.

 

[ERIFNOMI]

Their problem was that they tied this thing to the PS5, and that it cost so much more than the Quest. PS5 was only available from scalpers at over $1k, for years. Paying $600 (with tax) on top of that was just silly.

Now PS5 is available at retail price, but so what? It's a 5-yr old console. Who would spend even $400 on an accessory for it?

Anyone with a brain would - and did - just get a Quest.

PSVR2 works with PC.

Anyone with a brain stays the fuck away from Meta.

 

[Kazper]

I guess the fact that it has more hands tracking errors than PSVR1 doesn't help either. If any hand moves slightly behind the head then the controller is no longer tracked, which sucks in games like Beatsaber, which is the reason I bought the PSVR 1, and 2. It also sucks having to buy the games again...

This is simply not true - at least not generally. The hand-tracking works perfectly for me - behind head or no. Sure if I wave them around back there for a long time that's an issue, but what game requires that? Certainly not Beat Saber. The internal gyroscopes work just fine for short periods of time.

The only alternative is base stations like Valve uses, and that's a dead horse. 99% of people do not have the ability nor desire to set those up.

 

[Ridlin]

I've been an avid VR gamer for, since the original Vive game out. Six years now? I'm still into it and rarely play flat games. I've got 2 Quest 3's that my wife and I play A LOT of co-op games in. She gets motion sick (big time) so I just have to make sure they all have teleport movement and she's fine. I've got the PSVR 2 and love it. Arkin Age, Metro, Aliens, Batman, Behemoth, Surface, are the games I've been enjoying. I go for the PlayStation when I want the best graphics and immersion. Arizona Sunshine, Escape Room Simulator, Into Black, Walk-about mini, Drop Dead, Hell Sweeper, Power wash, and many more, are all games I've been playing recently with my wife. Oh yeah Crisis Brigade we just finished and loved.

Honestly it's been the best time for VR that I've ever seen. I think the industry has really turned a corner and my wife and I have been loving it. I'm not sure this is sad news. It's been two years it was due for a price cut. Shrug.

 

[orangpelupa]

How... How have I not heard of this mod?! My god, I can't believe I have completely missed this...
Thanks for the tip!

Btw have you heard UEVR? Basically most unreal engine games, in vr

 

[Resolute]

Yeah but that's also because it's a massively overengineered piece of tech at a massively inflated price. There are great innovations in the Vision Pro, but there is also a lot of frivolous waste of money - and then the Apple tax on top. In the Venn diagram for VR enthusiasts, Apple users and rich people - the potential pool of customers is miniscule.

Not even VR enthusiasts - VR enthusiasts who aren't really gamers. That by itself is a market that likely only reaches a very low six figures worth of people.

Also, Radaxian - nobody is going to watch someone's shitty YouTube video about a rumour that Apple will discontinue the Vision Pro.

 

[Resolute]

bah, forum hiccup double post.

 

[Pannad42]

I have a full VR simrig in my media room, primarily using the PSVR2, and either playing GT7 or (much more often these days) ACC and iRacing in VR on my gaming PC. I race probably 7-10h/wk, and generally for about 90-120min per session.

Friends (okay, mostly dudes) are invariably curious to try it. The majority who have - both those with and without VR, and with and without simracing experience - absolutely love it. In general alignment of sensations with the physicality of the rig - you're seated in a a physical cockpit, with your hands on a physical wheel, fairly precisely matching what your eyes are telling you - has meant that people come out feeling pretty fine, even if it's their first time "going under".

Except for one friend, out of perhaps ten or twelve who have tried it, who absolutely understood the appeal, absolutely had a blast for 15 minutes, and absolutely needed GET THE FUCK OUT before he puked.

Anecdotally, your reaction isn't the common case, but it really does happen.

I have found that some people are really sensitive to the IPD not being set perfectly for them, and that triggers the puke response.
Unfortunatley, trying to explain to someone how they should move the IPD slider when you can't see what they see isn't exactly easy.

 

[Pannad42]

The weirdest moment for me was the end of the race.

This was GT7, and I dunno what the camera options are, I assume this is the VR default, but you could see your virtual hands on the wheel etc. Setup was a real race bucket seat, Fanatec force feedback wheel, three pedals and stick shifter. I can't remember now if I was manually shifting, using the paddles, or just had it on automatic.

Anyways, it was cool, as I said I see the appeal. I just found it really exhausting. But at the end what fucked with my head was when I took my hands off the wheel. And my virtual avatar didn't.

That broke my brain a little.

I accidentally set my avatar to female in Elite: Dangerous.

Looking down and discovering I had a cleavage was different...

 

[Pannad42]

Using VR for an application where your character/POV is in a moving vehicle without excellent simulation of gravity/force changes is asking for motion sickness. There was a lot of talk back when VR was first exciting again about various technical factors about the displays that might be contributing, but the biggest factor to motion induced nausea in humans is always going to be mismatch between the visual system and the vestibular system. It can happen in other settings but all other things being equal it's going to be better and more tolerable if movement of your visual reference frame is tied to real movements of your head and body, or at least real changes in the apparent gravity experienced by your head.

I have found the opposite.

Sitting in a vitual car, plane or spaceship, with a steering wheel or HOTAS, gives something 'solid' to relate to and makes the experience less likely to feel ill.

As I mentioned above, I think getting the IPD right has a much bigger effect.

 

[LtKernelPanic]

I want to like VR but my defective eyeballs mk. I say otherwise. Found out the hard way when I bought the FPV goggles with Mavic Air that if I move around with them on I get pretty much instant nausea and a headache. Thankfully if I sit while using them I can avoid that. Sadly not moving while playing a VR game isn’t really possible.

 

[Echohead2]

Price was too high to begin with. It should have been $200 tops.

 

[zarmanto]

Price was too high to begin with. It should have been $200 tops.

Wishful thinking, much? While Apple's $3,500 price tag on their (now discontinued) headset was certainly eye-wateringly painful, the PSVR2 was far less than that even before this price reduction... and you can only cut costs so much before you find yourself losing money on a product. At the $200 price mark, the PSVR2 would have had to be a loss leader... and you don't produce a loss leader unless you're sure you can make up that loss on game sales.

 

[Flipper35]

Using VR for an application where your character/POV is in a moving vehicle without excellent simulation of gravity/force changes is asking for motion sickness. There was a lot of talk back when VR was first exciting again about various technical factors about the displays that might be contributing, but the biggest factor to motion induced nausea in humans is always going to be mismatch between the visual system and the vestibular system. It can happen in other settings but all other things being equal it's going to be better and more tolerable if movement of your visual reference frame is tied to real movements of your head and body, or at least real changes in the apparent gravity experienced by your head.

You just need this! (there are less expensive ones, this was just the first one I searched)

https://dofreality.com/product/racing/motion-racing-rig-6-axis-pro-p6/

 

[Flipper35]

Anecdotally, my 84 year old dad loves doing stuff in VR. The roller coasters, shoot the plate carnival games and so forth. He told his brother to come check it out.

 

[Sabirythia]

What you have described is a niche, not a fad. There are two huge differences. Niches don't go away, and niches never catch on in the first place. I've been into VR for six years and don't see myself stopping. Some new awesome titles (Metro Awakening, Behemoth) came out a few months ago and I'm eager for Alien Rogue Incursion to get fixed.

There is a market for VR and will always be a market. It's just smaller than console markets.

This is a good explanation. Also as a good niche, it provides things that aren't possible in other mediums.

Games are fun, but it's also nice for long distance friendships. Nothing virtual compares to watching movies with your friends in VR or giving them heartfelt hugs, when those friends are literally on the other side of the planet from you.

 

[Jensen404]

(my friend who does get motion sickness easily played for 5 minutes and had to stop before he threw up).

Played what for 5 minutes? I've spent hundreds of hours in VR. Some games I can play for hours with no nausea, but with some games/experiences I feel nauseous almost instantly. Usually it's anything where the rotation of the view doesn't match the rotation of my head.

I want to like VR but my defective eyeballs mk. I say otherwise. Found out the hard way when I bought the FPV goggles with Mavic Air that if I move around with them on I get pretty much instant nausea and a headache. Thankfully if I sit while using them I can avoid that. Sadly not moving while playing a VR game isn’t really possible.

Don't discount all of VR because you've tried what is likely the most nauseating version of it. FPV goggles don't compensate for the movement of your head. All popular VR gaming headsets now have 6-DOF tracking that compensate for any movements of your head. I haven't tried FPV goggles, but I'd guess that if you can handle those while stationary, almost all VR experiences, even with head movement, will be easier to handle.

It would be like someone having their first movie watching experience being The Blair Witch Project in IMAX and getting nauseous and swearing off movie watching forever.

 

[Echohead2]

Wishful thinking, much? While Apple's $3,500 price tag on their (now discontinued) headset was certainly eye-wateringly painful, the PSVR2 was far less than that even before this price reduction... and you can only cut costs so much before you find yourself losing money on a product. At the $200 price mark, the PSVR2 would have had to be a loss leader... and you don't produce a loss leader unless you're sure you can make up that loss on game sales.

And it failed it seems. Sorry, but if your VR add-on costs as much as the original system, you are creating a vicious cycle (not a lot of people buy them, therefore not a lot of games made, therefore not a lot of people buy them, etc.). For the price they were asking you could get an xbox, switch, etc. If they couldn't offer them cheaper, they probably shouldn't have launched them, imo.

 

[araczynski]

$200 with Horizon and we have a deal, until then, yawn.

 

[Kazper]

$200 with Horizon and we have a deal, until then, yawn.

You can't even get a quality monitor for that price. What kind of dream are you living in?

 

[no_free_lunches_for_ai]

Played what for 5 minutes? I've spent hundreds of hours in VR. Some games I can play for hours with no nausea, but with some games/experiences I feel nauseous almost instantly. Usually it's anything where the rotation of the view doesn't match the rotation of my head.

He got sick riding the new Mario Kart ride at Super Nintendo World Universal. He could play literally anything for 5 minutes and get motion sick. Short of the VR jacking directly into his skull I'm not seeing a path forward for him to easily get into VR w/o severe bouts of sickness.

Now, could pushing through and sticking with VR help with his motion sickness? Maybe? Would be an interesting study, but he's already declined to participate.

 

[mdrejhon]

I want to like VR but my defective eyeballs mk. I say otherwise. Found out the hard way when I bought the FPV goggles with Mavic Air that if I move around with them on I get pretty much instant nausea and a headache. Thankfully if I sit while using them I can avoid that. Sadly not moving while playing a VR game isn’t really possible.

Then you might be interested in the VR mods of existing games.
Like the Cyberpunk 2077 VR mod that requires you to sit down + simply use your VR controllers like gamepads.
You can still turn left/right so that headturns feel natural (non-nauseating), so it's even less nausea than Mavic FPV goggles for your specific use-case of motion sickness.

(Also: Sim racing. Basically racing in VR all requires you to sit down, like sitting in a car. Some VR users only do sim racing because of this.)

Using VR for an application where your character/POV is in a moving vehicle without excellent simulation of gravity/force changes is asking for motion sickness.

True, but it's also observed motion sickness triggers are different between different people. One VR user gets zero motion sickness in sim racing (you're inside a car cage, which grounds you) but lots of motion sickness in rollercoasters.

YMMV. It's a crapshoot predicting who somebody else is motionsicked by. Like that 87 year old who can stand VR rollercoasters, out of weird things...

He got sick riding the new Mario Kart ride at Super Nintendo World Universal. He could play literally anything for 5 minutes and get motion sick. Short of the VR jacking directly into his skull I'm not seeing a path forward for him to easily get into VR w/o severe bouts of sickness.

On that datapoint, other games have 1:1 vertigo sync.

Example: VR bowling, where all your real-world motion is perfectly in sync with your VR motion. In other words, in a room big enough (to cover the local bowler area, from holding ball to release), you grab a ball, run a short distance, release ball, and realworld/virtual is in sync. Something that easily fits in a ~10x15 playspace without requiring teleports. No vertigo disconnects.

Another VR game is a simple $5 kite flying game on the SteamVR store. You're just standing on a beach flying a kite, admiring the beautiful scenery. There's some kite flying minigames where you can do things like steer a steerable kite to pop balloons or battle another kite. Or just use it as zen.

Also, things like Alcove VR -- basically just a zen game where you roam a house with multiple rooms, where one room is just for misic, another room is just viewing out a balcony, and other to watch casted content on a virtual screen. Only teleports between preselected points, so you're not moving about -- it stays in 1:1 vertigo sync otherwise.

Has he tried any of those 1:1 perfect sync games?

(Also known as "Comfortable-Rated" (Meta rating scale) for the Meta content on Meta Quest store)

 

[Jensen404]

He got sick riding the new Mario Kart ride at Super Nintendo World Universal. He could play literally anything for 5 minutes and get motion sick. Short of the VR jacking directly into his skull I'm not seeing a path forward for him to easily get into VR w/o severe bouts of sickness.

Now, could pushing through and sticking with VR help with his motion sickness? Maybe? Would be an interesting study, but he's already declined to participate.

I wasn't suggesting pushing through the sickness. My only point was that there is wide variance in how nauseating VR games can be. Some VR games can be less nauseating than many flatscreen games.
I think most people would do well with something like Job Simulator, Moss, or Walkabout Mini Golf VR with teleport movement. In those games, there in no artificial locomotion... the environment appears to be stationary.

But I feel unwell when playing any kind of car racing/flying VR game because there is a disconnect between the rotational motion of the view and my head movement.
Many amusement part rides don't agree with me either (or even car rides).

There are other factors that could lead to discomfort even in games without artificial locomotion, but it's hard to know if someone doesn't try one of those games.

Maybe they aren't interested in the kinds of games that don't need artificial movement. That would be perfectly understandable as well.

 

[mdrejhon]

1. Spend multiple minutes screwing around trying to get it adjusted and comfortable
2. Awkwardly fumble around with the settings and controls
3. Finally get in game, gawk at the visuals and immersiveness
4. Get frustrated by the controls (regardless of the game)
5. Find that it is instantly physically uncomfortable/painful to wear. Also start to sweat and feel nauseous after about 15 minutes.

I agree. That's why Meta Quest won here -- you can pick up a Meta Quest and just play within seconds. It can AI-recognize the room you are in, and remember its Roomscale memory on a per-room / per-premises basis. They're even about to automate it (photogrammetry) in an upcoming firmware in Quest 3.

In general, standalone VR headsets are 100x easier than PCVR headsets.

But it's Meta.

Now that said:

PSVR2 works with PC.
Anyone with a brain stays the fuck away from Meta.

That's why I am so excited for Valve Deckard being released end of 2025.

Basically a glove-fit for the 800 pound gorilla of gaming app stores (Steam), with an onboard Steam Deck style user interface in VR, rumored with the ability to play both native standalone games (e.g. apk ports of other standalone VR headsets) and arm64 recompiled pcvr ports.

Since the rumors now say it is literally an ARM PC in a headset with Proton included -- so essentially, pseudo-standalone PCVR. (Basically PCVR authors can recompile existing PCVR content for the headset).

(And yes, 2D Steam Deck titles on a floating screen too -- so you can use it as a mobile gaming PC)

Plus ability to cast VR content from a desktop PC -- you gain three ways to play on a standalone headset that you can bring with you to play somewhere else (like a Steam Deckized version of Meta Quest).

I hope Valve Deckard gets automatic photogrammetry roomscale (like Meta is adding to Quest 3 firmware later in 2025). And that it has optional upgradeable M.2 SSD drive slot (would be a first in a standalone headset...)

Also, good VR content come by too infrequently, or people keep running out of memory to install new apps on the easy headsets (cheap Meta headsets only had 64GB flash for games).

____

There's just way too many pain points, still.

If a lot of pain points are removed (automatic photogrammetry roomscale, low price, more AAA games, lower software development costs, standalone capability, play anywhere in any safe open space, less motion sickness, and tons of local install memory like upgradeable flash memory preferrably M.2 2230 instead of SD, and comfortable to wear without eyestrain)... Then they can easily pull console-generation numbers (e.g. a model would sell as much as an average console -- Quest 2 did -- but people started putting down the headsets for this or that reason). Deckard at rumored >$1K is sadly not going to be cheap, but hopefully it ticks a lot of the other boxes at least.

The market is less stillborn now, but it's still inconvenient. Metaphorically in the ergonomics metaphor -- Old arcade Virtuality was like Alto/Lisa computers, Meta Quest is like 1990s DOS computers, and VR needs the equivalent of 21st century easy electronics in convenience/ease/amount of content/ergonomics/comfort/low friction/etc.

 

[Nifty'sPapa]

I'm confused.

An ps5 with old firmware able to play 3D BD?

All modern BD drives can read the 3D discs. While the PS4 plays them, the PS5 firmware never had the 3D enabled.

 

[BrangdonJ]

He got sick riding the new Mario Kart ride at Super Nintendo World Universal. He could play literally anything for 5 minutes and get motion sick. Short of the VR jacking directly into his skull I'm not seeing a path forward for him to easily get into VR w/o severe bouts of sickness.

Now, could pushing through and sticking with VR help with his motion sickness? Maybe? Would be an interesting study, but he's already declined to participate.

The usual advice is that "pushing through" makes it worse. Better to stop immediately and acclimatise with small doses.

 

[Resolute]

He got sick riding the new Mario Kart ride at Super Nintendo World Universal. He could play literally anything for 5 minutes and get motion sick. Short of the VR jacking directly into his skull I'm not seeing a path forward for him to easily get into VR w/o severe bouts of sickness.

Now, could pushing through and sticking with VR help with his motion sickness? Maybe? Would be an interesting study, but he's already declined to participate.

No. Don't push through.

Ginger helps. I used ginger tablets. But in general, play for a short period, and stop once you start to feel nausea. Try again the next day. It takes time to acclimatize. And some never do. This is one of the inherent limitations of VR.

 

[no_free_lunches_for_ai]

No. Don't push through.

Ginger helps. I used ginger tablets. But in general, play for a short period, and stop once you start to feel nausea. Try again the next day. It takes time to acclimatize. And some never do. This is one of the inherent limitations of VR.

Sorry, my pushing through was written poorly, and was in respect to continuing to use VR over time and see if the time it takes him to get queasy increases. I 100% agree pushing through while feeling sick is never a good idea (and something even I don't do even though I don't really get stomach sick playing VR).

 

[Resolute]

Yeah. It took me a couple weeks before I could go more than an hour. And then I fell of a mountain in Skyrim. That. Sucked.

 

[zarmanto]

... And then I fell of a mountain in Skyrim. That. Sucked.

Is it weird that I suddenly want to try out Skyrim in VR?

 

[Resolute]

I never got into Skyrim at all flat screen. But it is by far my most played VR game. And that was the no-mods PSVR version too.

 

[ERIFNOMI]

I never got into Skyrim at all flat screen. But it is by far my most played VR game. And that was the no-mods PSVR version too.

My wife is a Skyrim addict. I should probably drop her in Skyrim VR and see what happens.

 

[Flipper35]

I wasn't suggesting pushing through the sickness. My only point was that there is wide variance in how nauseating VR games can be. Some VR games can be less nauseating than many flatscreen games.
I think most people would do well with something like Job Simulator, Moss, or Walkabout Mini Golf VR with teleport movement. In those games, there in no artificial locomotion... the environment appears to be stationary.

But I feel unwell when playing any kind of car racing/flying VR game because there is a disconnect between the rotational motion of the view and my head movement.
Many amusement part rides don't agree with me either (or even car rides).

There are other factors that could lead to discomfort even in games without artificial locomotion, but it's hard to know if someone doesn't try one of those games.

Maybe they aren't interested in the kinds of games that don't need artificial movement. That would be perfectly understandable as well.

Some games with the same locomotion are different. Phasmaphobia and PayDay 2 are the same locomotion. I do not get sick at all after hours in PayDay 2, but I can only do one or two houses in Phasmaphobia. I think partially that PD2 has so much going on you don't notice and PMP you concentrate on details.

That said, racing and flying I can do for hours and not feel any worse. That said, during my early flight training days under the hood to recover from "unusual orientations" never bothered me either as the instructor flew all over the sky with my head in my lap. Sim flying is the same, you "look" wherever unrelated to your flight path but your head knows you are looking off the flight path and it seems natural.

What really gets me to quit early are the Indy Jones style where the floor starts moving unexpectedly with no input from myself. Those times it is even hard to maintain balance. Ritchies Plank Experience doesn't bother me at all on the plank or flying around like Iron Man.

 

[Flipper35]

For those really adventurous, Mirrors Edge has a VR mod.