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The PlayStation 5 is getting a virtual reality headset, Sony announced on Tuesday.
The new headset is the successor to PlayStation VR, which launched for the PlayStation 4 in 2016 and went on to sell over 5 million units. Though Sony didn't share images of the new device, it's said to provide, "dramatic leaps in performance and interactivity" over the previous generation.
Sony Senior Vice President of platform planning and management Hideaki Nishino shared a few more details about the new headset in a blog post:
- It won't launch in 2021.
- It has a new type of controller, "which will incorporate some of the key features" of the PlayStation 5 gamepad.
- It uses a single wire, rather than a series of cords (unlike the PlayStation VR headset for PS4).
- The specs are getting upgraded, and Nishino promised improvements to, "everything from resolution and field of view to tracking and input."
The original PlayStation VR headset works on the PlayStation 5, albeit with technology that was originally launched nearly five years ago.
"Obviously the technology has moved on since the first PlayStation VR headset, and we will capture that," Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan told the Financial Times.
Despite the success of the first PlayStation VR headset compared to other VR headsets, its sales numbers paled in comparison to the PlayStation 4 console itself. Sony has sold over 5 million PlayStation VR headsets, and over 110 million PlayStation 4 consoles.
Ryan said that virtual reality is a long-term project for PlayStation.
"PlayStation believes in VR. Sony believes in VR, and we definitely believe at some point in the future, VR will represent a meaningful component of interactive entertainment," he told the Washington Post. "Will it be this year? No. Will it be next year? No. But will it come at some stage? We believe that."
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