Original PSVR games aren’t playable on Playstation VR2, Sony confirmed.
On Sony’s Official PlayStation Podcast Hideaki Nishino, SVP of Platform Experience, was asked whether original PlayStation VR games could be played on PlayStation VR2. He replied:
PSVR games are not compatible with PSVR 2 because PSVR 2 is designed to deliver a truly next generation VR experience. PSVR 2 has much more advanced features like all new controller with haptic feedback and adaptive triggers, inside out tracking, eye tracking, 3D audio is coming together, 4K HDR of course.
So this means developing games for PSVR 2 requires a whole new approach than the original PSVR.
Nishino’s response doesn’t explain in detail what exact “whole new approach” is required, but it probably mostly concerns the vastly different controllers. Firstly, many original PSVR games used the DualShock 4 gamepad tracked by the PlayStation 4 Camera. The headset was sold with or without the optional PlayStation Move hand controllers, which only some games required.
Secondly, the new PlayStation VR2 Sense controllers have a very different layout to those Move controllers. They have fewer buttons, instead having thumbsticks and a grip trigger for picking up objects naturally. At minimum, developers would need to remap inputs and update the controller models. And as Nishino hints, to truly take advantage of the new hardware there’d be a lot more work involved.
Questions still remain about whether owning an original PSVR version of a game will entitle you to a PSVR 2 version should one be released – or at least an upgrade priced less than the full game. These questions will likely be answered closer to launch.
That launch is slated for early 2023. We recently went hands-on with the hardware: read our first impressions here.
