Sony is creating a VR headset for the Playstation 5, with dev kits being sent out soon

Playstation CEO Jim Ryan has given some details about a future VR headset for the Playstation 5, re-emphasising Sony’s commitment to the future of VR.

In interviews with both the Washington Post and GQ, Ryan said that development kits for the headset would be out soon, and promised a less cumbersome setup than the current PSVR headset – which requires multiple cables an a mysterious black box to work.

“Generational leaps allows you to sweep up the advances in technology that have taken place,” Ryan said to the Washington Post. “Given this was our first foray into virtual reality, it gives us a chance to apply lessons learned. One of the very vivid illustrations of that is that we will be moving to a very easy single-cord setup.”

The headset will also feature a VR-specific controller, one that will borrow features found in the DualSense controller, Sony revealed in a blog post.

Ryan was tight-lipped about further details, including the name for the new headset, as well as its release date and launch titles. He did, however, state that Sony remains optimistic about the future of VR, praising the PSVR’s performance for the company.

Elsewhere in the interviews, Ryan apologised for the ongoing Playstation 5 shortages, explaining that demand had exceeded expectations. Perhaps most interestingly, Ryan revealed that one in four people who bought a Playstation 5 did not own a Playstation 4, showing the extremely high demand for the next-generation console.

As well as the exceedingly high demand, console production has been held back by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Obviously in a pandemic supply chains become a little more complicated than would normally be the case,” Ryan told GQ. “You know, one very visible example is the difficulties in the semiconductor market. You know, whether it’s automobiles, smartphones, PCs or games consoles, the problems in all those areas are very widely documented. We had to move to a distribution model that is entirely online and that’s something that we never had to do before. And, finally, just the level of demand for PlayStation 5. So, you know, all of those things kind of combined.”

Ryan also revealed Sony’s plans for releasing its titles on PC, following on from release of Horizon Zero Dawn on PC in August last year, and the upcoming PC release of Days Gone  in Spring – marking a change in Sony’s approach to the platform.

“I think a few things changed. We find ourselves now in early 2021 with our development studios and the games that they make in better shape than they’ve ever been before. Particularly from the latter half of the PS4 cycle our studios made some wonderful, great games. There’s an opportunity to expose those great games to a wider audience and recognise the economics of game development, which are not always straightforward. The cost of making games goes up with each cycle, as the calibre of the IP has improved. Also, our ease of making it available to non-console owners has grown. So it’s a fairly straightforward decision for us to make.”