Allow me to gently lay my neck on the line here before you trample all over it and the rest of my lifeless body – the PlayStation VR is going to suck.
When I say it will suck, I don’t necessarily mean that the technology will be underwhelming, because for all intents and purposes virtual reality is very impressive and Sony’s stab at it, I’ve heard, is pretty successful at doing its job. Also, after learning that the Oculus Rift will require customers to sell their first- and second-born children in order to be able to afford both purchasing the device, and purchasing a PC capable of running it without spontaneously setting on fire every now and again, it’s even found itself in a more desirable position now than it was just a few weeks ago.
But it will still suck.
The PlayStation VR will suck because it is doomed to follow the exact trajectory of every Sony peripheral before it, with the hardware manufacturer not even sugar-coating the fact that it’s shaping up to essentially be a less regrettable PS Move. Remember the PS Move? Remember how it was briefly showcased at that one E3, before Sony ushered it out of the building in order to discuss things we actually cared about? That was the PS VR at E3 2015, except there were a few people in the audience who were actually interested this time around. Sony showed us reels of footage pertaining to the games we’ll be able to play in actual reality, before cutting to a trailer for mechanized VR football/Unreal Tournament hybrid RIGS, and then continued their press conference as though nothing had happened. It was odd.
This is because the PlayStation VR has mostly been promoted as this weird little experiment thus far – there’s been no hubbub about it outside of the gaming/tech press and consumers who closely follow the industry online, and if you were to ask someone who owns a PS4 but who doesn’t frequent the likes of IGN or GameSpot whether or not they were buying one, their response would probably be: “PlayStation is making a virtual reality headset?” No one’s talking about it aside from us. Hell, Sony are barely discussing it unless they’re formally asked about it, and they’re the ones making the bloody thing.
Even though the Oculus Rift’s $599 price point has put a lot of people off, at least Oculus CEO Palmer Luckey seems to understand who his device is targeted towards. When questioned over whether VR headsets should be more stylish, he quipped: “f you’re a gamer and you have high end graphics cards… you’re probably not the kind of person who cares about fashion.” Luckey knows that the Rift, at least for the time being, is going to directly appeal to demographic of tech enthusiasts, and fortunately those kinds of people already own relatively capable PCs and will already know about the device given their interest in the industry. On the other hand, Sony faces the uphill struggle of presenting the PlayStation VR to PS4 owners and explaining how the peripheral (presumably) costs more than the console itself, something which is going to sound like an alien concept to the kind of person who’d balk at the thought of spending $400+ in order to improve their gaming system’s graphics. It’s a tough sell.
It’s made even tougher when you consider that unlike the open platform that is the PC, developers will need to jump through a series of hoops in order for their VR games to be released on Sony’s platforms. You won’t get the array of weird little experimental games Oculus Rift owners will be able to get on PC, and the amount of use you’ll get out of your PS VR will be directly proportionate to how much effort publishers and developers will put into releasing games for a peripheral that only a fraction of the PS4’s audience will own. Unlike the Oculus Rift where support for it will likely continue for years down the line due to the freedom granted by the PC as a platform, the PS VR is unavoidably hindered by the efforts of the PS4’s game developers, and by Sony themselves. Considering Sony’s track record of supporting hardware outside of their consoles, this spells bad news.
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I’m not equating the quality of the PlayStation VR with the lackluster PS Move or the terrible PlayStation Camera. I have yet to experience it for myself, but those I’ve spoken to have mostly praised it., and with Sony having previously announced a 120Hz display for the device and pushing developers to run their games at 90fps for it, it seems that in terms of specs, it’s going to do a surprisingly good job of competing with the likes of the Rift and the HTC Vive, which are both technically superior. But I do feel that the majority of signs are pointing towards it experiencing a similar, if slightly more successful, descent into obscurity as Sony’s previous failed attempts at changing the way we interact with our PlayStation games. Sure, the PS VR is certainly more innovative than Sony’s derivative take on Nintendo’s WiiMote and the Kinect, and virtual reality is a more intriguing prospect than sub-par motion controllers, but thus far Sony has shown us nothing that would stand to convince your average PS4 owner would be a valuable investment.
Of course, you could argue that Sony isn’t looking to appeal to the “average PS4 owner” with the PS VR, and that they’re targeting the same kind of niche market as the Rift. But just how big is that niche market when it comes to PS4 owners, a demographic of people who still willingly spend most of their time on Destiny, for God’s sake? I’m going to wager “not very.” If this turns out to be the case, then there will therefore be less interest in developers creating software for it – and vital software is already something that is notably ascent from the device’s line-up.
The PlayStation VR can’t afford to have the underwhelming launch line-up as is typically experienced by a console. It needs to sell well right out of the gate in order to encourage continued support for it, but of the games that have thus far been announced, there is no killer app set to launch alongside it this year. Similar to the Rift, its most high-profile exclusive game will be in the form of EVE: Valkyrie, a VR spin-off from EVE Online which is a game that doesn’t particularly mean much to PS4 owners. Aside from that you have Crytek’s Robinson: The Journey, which hasn’t been confirmed as a launch title, and then oddball titles such as Eagle Flight and 100ft Robot Golf. Gran Turismo Sport is also set to feature VR capabilities, but it isn’t exclusive to the platform, something which PS VR undoubtedly needs if it wants to really drive home sales.
So with the PS4’s more casual gaming audience having barely been acquainted with the device, the very real threat of an underwhelming launch leading to a lack of continued support, and the problem of it currently boasting zero must-have games in its launch line-up, I’d argue that it’s very easy to make the claim that the PlayStation VR is doomed to suck. Maybe that won’t be the case, and maybe PS4 owners will find it within themselves to spend roughly $400 on unproven tech, created by a company with a history of swiftly dropping support for its peripherals, and with no major games having been announced for it, but only the most ardent of VR evangelists would claim that this is the most likely course of events at this moment in time.
