Tomorrow sees Sony finally lift the lid on at least a little of what it’s been cooking up for PSVR 2.
PlayStation’s State of Play showcase returns at 3pm PT on June 2. Alongside updates on third-party flatscreen games, Sony is promising a “sneak peek at several games in development for PlayStation VR2.” The show’s expected to clock in at just under 30 minutes.
Recently, State of Play broadcasts haven’t been where Sony makes its giant announcements — those were saved for a bigger PlayStation Showcase in 2021 — so we’re not expecting an exhaustive amount of information to come our way. But we do have our fingers crossed for an enticing tease of what’s to come for the PS5 VR headset, including reveals of several big titles. Here’s our predictions.
Horizon Call Of The Mountain Gameplay
There’s a handful of confirmed PSVR 2 games out there right now, but Sony’s own Horizon Call Of The Mountain is the only one the company’s officially acknowledged itself. We got just a few glimpses of the game at CES 2022 back in January, but we’d fully expect to see more at tomorrow’s showcase. Developed by The Persistence studio, Firesprite, Call Of The Mountain is likely to fully utilize most if not all of PSVR 2’s new features in one way or another, so it’s undoubtedly one of the games Sony will be most keen to talk about.
New Native VR Games: Firewall 2, Coatsink’s VR Project
Whilst hopes are high for some huge announcements from beloved series tomorrow, it’s also important that Sony shows its commitment to VR-exclusive developers and games made specifically for the platform. To that end, we’d expect to hear some news from more dedicated studios making titles you can’t play without PSVR 2. First Contact Entertainment already confirmed it’s working on a PSVR 2 project and, as developers of the hugely popular Firewall Zero Hour, a sequel seems like a good bet. Coatsink is also working on a PSVR 2 launch title, said to be a co-op survival game. Again, that seems like a safe prediciton.
Flatscreen Support: Gran Turismo 7 VR And Resident Evil 8 VR
We’re also expecting PSVR 2 to feature a wider array of hybrid VR games that can be played both with and without the headset, similar to Hitman 3 and No Man’s Sky on the original PSVR. Such a strategy might entice PS5 owners to pick up a headset to revisit their existing category of games. From this category, the two most obvious choices to our minds are Resident Evil 8 and Gran Turismo 7. VR support has been rumored for both for years now and past entires in both series supported the original PSVR headset. An announcement for either would be an easy win for Sony.
Ports & Remasters: Half-Life: Alyx, The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners, Bonelab
With PS5’s increased power, it’s also likely that we’re set to see a lot of games either jump from PSVR 1 to PSVR 2 with remastered graphics or even hit the PlayStation platform for the first time, having only been available on PC beforehand. Of this category, easily the most anticipated title is Half-Life: Alyx, which simply makes too much sense not to come to PSVR 2 at some point. But we’re also holding out hope for news on VR’s two other powerhouse action series – The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners with its incoming second chapter, or Stress Level Zero’s anticipated Boneworks follow-up, Bonelab. Again, any confirmation of one of these three games would be great news for PSVR fans.
No PSVR 2 Price Reveal, But Maybe A Release Window
Sony has been conspicuously quiet about release details for PSVR 2. To date, it hasn’t even mentioned what year it expects the headset to release in, let alone a season, month or specific day. But that silence speaks a thousand words; it’s clear that the continued supply chain issues brought about by COVID — which have been hampering shipments and sales of the PS5 itself — have made it incredibly difficult to commit to a timeframe. Still, speculation has been pointing to a Q1 2023 release and we wouldn’t be too surprised to learn that PSVR 2 will indeed miss a 2022 launch during tomorrow’s State of Play. With that said, if the kit is still over six months away, we don’t think we’ll hear any word on pricing.
Those are our PSVR 2 predicitions for tomorrow’s State of Play. Looking for more info on the headset? Keep track of everything we know about the device here and every game confirmed and rumored for the headset right here.
