PS VR2's first year has been disastrous

Paused production, PC pivot, and almost no software support

Me, thirteen months ago:

"With most PS VR2 games out so far having already appeared on the Quest 2, I think I'll usually pick that headset's tradeoff of worse graphics for wireless freedom. For PS VR2 to make any sense at all, Sony's going to have to put out more games that wouldn't be possible on lower-powered hardware."

Reader, they did not.

Sony's second-generation VR headset has been out for more than a year now, and the launch has to go down as an embarrassment for the PlayStation company. I did not expect this to be a wildly successful product — a wired headset that costs more than a Meta Quest 3 and requires a PS5 was always going to be a tough sell — but I did expect a little more effort from Sony.

Here is the sum total of first-party software that has been released for the PlayStation VR2 since launch:

• Horizon: Call of the Mountain (a launch title)

• Gran Turismo 7 (a launch day update to an existing PS5 game)

• Firewall Ultra (released on August 24th)

Call of the Mountain is a little derivative, but it counts as a legitimate new entry in one of Sony's major franchises. Gran Turismo 7's VR update is great, but the game originally came out in 2022. Firewall Ultra is a multiplayer shooter sequel that was mostly panned by critics and led to the closure of its developer.

That's it from Sony, and there's nothing else on the horizon. The most notable third-party releases have been patches to Capcom's Resident Evil Village and Resident Evil 4 remake, which do play very well and are exclusive to PlayStation. There's also Synapse, a stylish shooter that makes good use of the headset's features, and Sony has also funded PS VR2 versions of some other third-party games. The overwhelming majority of the PS VR2 library, however, is made up of titles that are already on other platforms.