I should have learned not to get my hopes up, but as a huge fan of Sony’s PSVR2 it’s hard not to get excited when a state of play is announced featuring new PSVR2 games. Now, I’m not naive enough to believe that Half Life: Alyx will ever make it to the headset (even though I desperately want it to), but when one of my favorite VR games ever is the PSVR1 exclusive, Astro Bot Rescue Mission, I think it’s fair to hope Astro Bot Rescue Mission 2 for PSVR2. (I mean, I’d even take backwards compatibility for the original Astro Bot Rescue Mission at this point!)
That’s why yesterday’s Astro Bot announcement was so bittersweet for me. Like everyone, I’m excited for a new Astro Bot game, they’re such joyous, heartwarming and inspiring games – and on top of that, this new one looks a bit like a StarFox x Mario Mash-up. “How could this not be a game of the year contender?!” I thought as I watched the reveal. But then, when the trailer went a minute without showing footage of what looked like a VR game, my heart started to sink. That sunken heart then broke completely in two when big bold words saying “COMING TO PS5” appeared at the very end of the trailer. So no PSVR2 support at all?! For a character who technically only got big thanks to Astro Bot Rescue Mission on PSVR1? What gives?
To add more salt to the wound, while scouring the trailer for potential PSVR2 clues (just in case, you never know, etc…), I noticed that there was little in the trailer during the casino world section, where Astro Bot is wearing a VR headset. The only problem is… THIS IS PSVR1! Excuse my shouting – but come on. How can Sony and PlayStation expect their fans to stay excited about the future of PSVR2 if their main mascot doesn’t even wear one?
I’m not one of those people who think PSVR2 has no games by the way. There are heaps of them out there – and a lot of them are really, really great games too – but I can only mentally count two first-party PSVR2 releases from Sony since the headset came out last year. Horizon: Call of the Mountain and Gran Turismo 7, while Sony-published Firewall Ultra, a game that launched in less than perfect condition, caused its developers First Contact Entertainment to shut down completely soon after citing a lack of VR support . Heck, Sony even shut down its London studios earlier this month, so that’s any hope for Blood and Truth 2 down the road.
I don’t like moaning, frankly, I don’t, so I feel like I have to reiterate here that in the morning big fan of PSVR2. I just feel like there is so much wasted potential here and it annoys me. I’ll never know what goes on in Sony’s boardrooms or what the decision-making processes look like when it comes to promoting the headset or developing first-party games for it. Maybe there’s a good reason why it feels it needs to put the PSVR2 on the backburner compared to its other products. I guess it’s just a matter of money though.
Whatever the reason, it’s hard to stay excited about the PSVR2 or even recommend it to new VR adopters when things like this happen, and as a VR enthusiast, it really hurts to admit it. Look, if anyone at Sony is reading this and you want my advice, I don’t think it’s too late to save the PSVR2 yet. Sure, some big first party games would be great, but with the rise of flat screen to VR mods keeping PC VR gaming alive and kicking right now, I urge you to watch my video below and consider my little idea (and I won’t even charge a commission on all the new units I will definitely move for you…).
To spoil the surprise for you, though, this idea is pretty simple: Sony has plenty of flat-screen games from its back catalog that, as PC VR mods have already proven, would make some great VR adaptations. If Sony doesn’t want to develop new PSVR2 games, the least it could do is breathe new life into its older flat screens that are up for grabs. Plus, it’s already done the hard work of developing great hardware anyway – PSVR2 is great, it just needs its own creator to support it.
