'Rec Room' Has No Plans To Support PSVR 2 Despite Being On Original PSVR

Republished By Plato

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Rec Room is one of the leading social VR platforms, supporting every major console, mobile device, and VR headset—except PlayStation VR 2, that is. And it’s very likely going to stay that way.

In a Reddit AMA earlier this month, Rec Room co-founder Cameron Brown (aka ‘Gribbly’) answered a few burning questions, including a big one that’s been on the minds of PSVR 2 owners since the headset launched early last year. When will Rec Room come to PSVR 2?

Well, the news isn’t good, as Rec Room has “no current plans” to support Sony’s latest VR headset. Here’s Brown’s full statement:

“No current plans to bring RR to PSVR2. We’ve looked into it, it’s a non-trivial port, and we haven’t found a way to make it make economic sense. In an ideal world we would love to bring RR to PSVR2, but we just can’t justify the cost based on the numbers. Sucks I know, but that’s the truth.”

The free social VR platform has been available on the original PSVR since late 2017, bringing its user-focused maker tools alongside a host of first-party games and activities. Rec Room has rolled out to every major VR headset, including Quest 2/3/Pro, SteamVR headsets, Pico, and is also soon heading to Apple Vision Pro. Notably, PSVR 2 doesn’t support backwards compatibility with games designed for the original PSVR, leaving the onus on developers to port.

While Brown didn’t specify why the company is porting to Vision Pro and not PSVR 2, the writing on the wall is fairly clear. There simply aren’t enough people using PSVR 2.

In its 11 months of existence, Sony has been strangely gun-shy when it comes to funding new content for PSVR 2. The headset, which is some of the best VR hardware we’ve laid eyes on, only launched with a scant few VR-native exclusives: Horizon Call of the Mountain, C-Smash VRS, The Dark Pictures: Switchback VR, Synapse, and Firewall Ultra—which came alongside VR-optional ports Resident Evil Village and Gran Turismo 7. Since then, we’ve gotten the Resident Evil 4 remake VR mode, which landed in December, and a rash of games that also launched on Quest. That’s about it.

One of the big indicators that PSVR 2 isn’t doing well is sales volumes. Quest 2/3/Pro sales over the holiday season across Amazon outsold PSVR 2 by a large margin, giving Sony a sort of self-fulfilling lack of incentive to invest in future content. And the fact that one of the biggest, most well-funded VR platforms can’t find a way to make it work speaks volumes. We’re curious to see Sony’s next move, as it either picks up the reigns and funds more content à la Meta, or it continues to wane in third-party developer support into an uncertain future.