Sony Staying The Course With PSVR
The warning signs are there. Lack of games, HTC looking for Vive buyers, price drops, Xbox basically ignoring it all together, barely any buzz or excitement from the VR industry, etc. We could go on and on but all signs suggest virtual reality is in trouble. Where other companies might be withdrawing support, Sony seems to be committed to the PlayStation VR with big plans for the future.
Following the one-year anniversary of the PSVR, Sony had promising things to say. Shawn Layden, the chairmen of Sony Interactive Entertainment America, said in a PlayStation Blog post that “virtual reality is the next step in the evolution of the video game medium,” but due to the uncharted territory that is VR, it’ll take some time to build on the innovative field.
Shawn Layden said:
“But we’ve been learning a lot about this medium along the way. Building the future of VR is a lot like creating a new language. Or maybe even an entirely new alphabet! With traditional videogame development, we can draw from nearly 40 years of experimentation, trial and error. VR is a little bit different. Of course we’re still drawing from the long, proud history of traditional videogames development — but VR’s unique capabilities mean developing entirely different levels of artistry and engineering. Making VR a mainstream sensation will require the full efforts of our very best and brightest.”
As for what is next, Layden added that “the best is yet to come.” He referenced the plans to add over 60 new PSVR games through the end of 2017. These games include titles like Skyrim and Fallout 4. Beyond that list, Layden also said that they’ll have plenty more to share with PlayStation fans about the future of VR in the coming months.
Microsoft also recently spoke about VR for the Xbox, but they had a different plan for the products. Albert Penello, the senior director of product management for Microsoft, recently spoke about VR and said that they weren’t focusing on it this year. He added that they’d “learned with Kinect,” and didn’t want to distract developers with the VR field as they move towards the end of a big year with the Xbox One X.