PlayStation VR2, Sony’s upcoming PlayStation 5-powered VR headset, won’t play original PlayStation VR games.
This disappointing but not entirely surprising revelation came courtesy of Hideaki Nishino, Senior Vice-President of PlayStation’s Platform Experience. You can hear his remarks at the 29 minute mark of the latest Official PlayStation Podcast but the news is no, PSVR games won’t play on PlayStation VR2.
Sony hasn’t been quite as big on backwards compatibility as Microsoft, but it still seems like a bad move. Why? Because, while Sony has stated there’ll be 20+ PSVR 2 titles at launch, it makes PSVR 2 feel more of a gamble. Yes, the PS5 didn’t have a lot of titles at launch. But you could, at least, play just about every PS4 title out there.
As victims of Sega’s Mega CD, we’re all too aware that lack of support can kill a platform. We doubt Sony will ditch the PSVR 2 but there may a few months whether you wonder whether you’ve made the right purchase, limited to a relatively low number of titles.
We had hoped Sony would instigate some kind of limited backwards compatibility program. We’d kill to experience PlayStation Worlds’ Ocean Descent on PS5, for example. But, barring a sudden U-turn, that’s not going to happen.
There’s still no price for the PlayStation VR2, which is set for a Q1 2023 release. If you want to know more about PSVR2 check out our article here, but this announcement is bound to have people thinking twice.
