Rec Room Dev 'Can't Justify' a PSVR2 Port

Even Sony can't justify ports of Astrobot, Blood and Truth, Wipeout Omega Collection etc to PSVR2.

I think writing is on the wall for PSVR2.
0 first-party PSVR2 games announced. Sales dropped from a cliff. And now even third-party devs are saying that there is no point in porting their games for platform.

>The free game is supported by microtransactions.

Makes sense, then, because I wouldn't have played it, based on that information, anyway.

With both the huge outlay of cash by Sony on R&D and the huge RRP on the obviously very technically accomplished headset, with the total failure in sales, I can only think that Sony would have made a far better investment in putting all the finances and effort in releasing A Vita 2! That would never have reached the heights that Nintendo sit, but it would have been a massive success compared to PSVR2! With the streamline device selling as well as it has, it would have been even better if it had been an honest to goodness handheld. I haven’t a won’t be buying a PSVR2 but I would definitely have bought a Vita 2!

@Godot25 yeah, to be fair, though, this is a F2P game supported by MTX, which is a very hard sell.

@MattBoothDev It doesn't matter.

Meta Quest outsold PSVR2 30:1 during holidays on Amazon and that is translating into willingness of devs to port their games onto platform.

Unless Sony pays for that port of course.

The nature of that game would not interest Sony that much at that point I suppose. The current wait for Sony's next VR project is certainly worring at the moment but I would we will know at next PS Showcase / State of play. I think their best decision would be a dual pack of a new Astro Bot PSVR2 game, bundled with a VR2 port of their previous game rescue mission, ala SpiderMan Miles Morales Ultimate edition, with the choice of buying them seperatly beeing even better. And personnaly, I would like VR2 ports of RE7 and Blood and truth, hopefully for 2024 for RE7.

Sadly I'm not surprised, I've seen a few PSVR2 games are having to pivot to play outside of VR and games such as I Expect You to Die are completely absent. It seems PSVR2 only sol around 10,000 units across the holiday season on Amazon US.

When Sony themselves haven't supported it outside of launch it really isn't a good look for consumers or developers. I've really enjoyed playing GT7 in VR but I'm seriously considering selling it and getting the Quest 3 as there seems little future in the platform at the moment

@Pat84 I'm baffled as to why Sony didn't do some of these ports for launch, especially Blood and Truth given how well suited it would be plus they made a PS5 patch anyway but for PSVR1

It’s a different matter with larger scale games that are made with PC in mind, or even just made concurrently with quest ports. I can understand why a free to play game wouldn’t make the cut though.

Don’t regret the purchase for a second - 3 of the best games of the year I’ve played have been VR exclusive, just like my favourite game of last gen.

Hopefully Sony invests in more first party games of course, but I’ve had my money’s worth with Resi 4&8, GT7, NMS, vertigo2, Red Matter 1&2, Moss 1&2, S&S 1&2, and AS2 alone. Not even mentioning the smaller games.

If VR games do dry up my gaming will dry up. Tired of most boring pancake games.

A prominent VR Youtuber has also stated he has heard from various studios that Sony is abandoning 3rd party funding for PSVR2.

Not a game I would have played anyway but it isn't a good look, I love my PSVR2 it really is brilliant. Only got mine at Xmas so loads of titles for me to go at for now, can't wait to get to Vertigo 2 and Madison in particular with a keen eye on Hubris and Behemoth in 2024.

@Bionic-Spencer A handheld doesn't make sense for Sony because they would in competition with Steam Deck and now Sony put their games on PC they are playable on Steam Deck.

You can't make a handheld and have your games running on a rival handheld.

@CharlieChooChoo GamertagVR

@CharlieChooChoo go to the 40 second mark https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTW_R3bdP64

@Godot25 it matters to me, since I don't play F2P games or buy any microtransactions.

But yeah, given the presumably small PSVR2 install base (likely from the exorbitant price) it's a hard sell altogether.

But for me, seeing anything that's a "free" game paid for with MTX, it's a hard, hard pass.

I did predict pre launch it would not even sell as well as psvr1, as a lot of people got stung on psvr1 with motion sickness (Like myself - One of my most regrettable purchases ever) and a lack of any killer game.

PSVR2 was destined to fail even before the questionable launch (zero hype, not sold in stores etc) and not because its a bad product, but because VR is nowhere near ready for mass market appeal and a huge number of people have absolutely no interest in it at all

@CharlieChooChoo I mean you can keep burying your head in the sand if you wish but he literally says that various devs have told him.
Why would various devs tell him if it's not true, you think these devs got together and decided to make up a lie?

@CharlieChooChoo If you got to believe what you got to believe just to get to sleep at night then you do you, for everyone else the picture is crystal clear.

So, psvr2 is the current WiiU?

@Savage_Joe WiiU sold 13M consoles by the end of it's lifetime.

PSVR2 is more like the Sega-CD or 3DO

We already see that this is Sony's Vita part 2, they once again threw their hands in the air and said "All right were done with any kind of support for this thing, third parties is all up to you now we believe in you 🙏"

It’s like Sony stopped supporting the PSVR2… looks at my Vita

Yet Rec Room is coming to the 3.5k Apple Vision Pro.
Sounds like someone wants their palms greased.

Sony keeping it to the website and losing out on launch promotion and making take who want to buy it at a store as an awful Idea. It went into retail with little fanfare.

I don't know why Sony wouldn't want to highlight the PSVR2 at this moment now that they are so popular that a streaming only device basically for parents was able to fly off the shelves.

Why was the PSVR1 (and Vita) supported for longer and had more games made by Sony? PSVR2 has one and it wasn't even a full game, I would love to see what happened behind the scenes.

Uff, that's bitter. Rec room isn't necessarily a killer app, but it has been a mainstay on any vr platform thus far.

Their choices in the hardware department as well as promotion and support have been baffling to me as of late.

After being a complete Sony fanboy for the last 25 years, I've started to decentralize my gaming more and more with pc and android handhelds and a meta quest. I'm sure Sony will continue to do some great games, but their continual move to consumer hostile business practices, tone-deafness towards the core fans and absolute risk aversion has me mostly bored between the sparks of safe yet fun blockbusters.

@Juanalf I follow/watch a lot of VR podcasts and the rumors are as follows.

Jim Ryan has never been a fan of VR, he even gave an interview not long before PSVR2 was announced and in this interview kind of dismissed VR, which is a weird thing to do if you are planning on releasing a headset.

However the higher ups at Sony headquarters wanted a headset on the market in case VR took off, so essentially Sony wanted to have VR while the new Playstation management didn't, but obviously Playstation takes their orders from Sony hence they released PSVR2.

Because Playstation aren't keen on VR they decided to release it at a relatively high price as they knew the hardcore will buy it and it will help recoup their R&D costs, and this is why they only sold it via PS Direct, as they don't have to give a cut to other retailers. And they have just decided to put in on the market and let 3rd party devs put games out for it and just take the 30% cut, they don't have any plans to support it themselves and already are cutting 3rd party funding for it.

If PSVR2 was compatible with psvr1 games I bet more people would be interested in it.
The library on PSVR2 is great, though small.

@Jaz007 never understood this. No one knew it even came out or was a thing unless you really into playstation.

Recroom is free... because it SUUUUX. dont port that crap then!!!!!!

The good news from RAD

Hey Everyone!

We’ve completed our build for the PlayStation 5 and PSVR2 apps and we are now waiting on Sony to ingest the apps and make them available to users. We expect this to happen in late January 2024.

EDIT: RAD is charging 50 a year...... F RAD AND SONY

Really a shame… I’m very happy with PSVR2 thus far, but feel like they shot themselves in the foot having it tethered.

Makes sense why Quest sold better. Everywhere I’d go I’d see stacks of it on the wall, it’s a standalone, cheaper investment for people, and a more thriving ecosystem.

Maybe Sonys next iteration will be portable/untethered and allow for game streaming. I know they had patents for the tech

I think the novelty wore off for many people after the original PSVR, would explain why we’ve heard nothing of the headset of late.

As others have said, Sony would have probably of been better off investing in Vita 2 instead. It would never compete with the Switch sales wise but I bet it would have been a lot more popular than PSVR2. I’d of definitely considered getting a Vita 2 especially if it ported original Vita games over.

@TrickyDicky99 context matters, VR is a very niche community. A console selling 13 million is a total disaster. If Nintendo didn't hit with the Switch, they'd most likely become Sega and only make games. at least those were the rumors at the time.

@mvhess Quest 2 outsold Xbox Series S/X in the same time from over the 1st 2 years on the market, it's not as niche as you think

Quest 2 sales estimated around 20M. PSV2 sales around 1.5M

@TrickyDicky99 Well, at the very least there is a major cutoff in what people are willing to pay for it. Quest 3 isn't selling well at all according to q4 earnings. Quest 2 outsold it by a significant margin during the holiday season, so clearly the cheaper price point entices people who generally don't play.

@mvhess Quest 3 hasn't sold as well as Quest 2, but still much better than PSVR2

PSVR2 is literally dead in the water as proven by this article. Rec Room was massively popular on PSVR1 and yet the devs can't justify a PSVR2 port

@TrickyDicky99 That's why sony invented the playstation portal which gives devs a break and sony to not waste resources on a different SKU taking away resources from the ps5.

@MaccaMUFC PS Vita 2 is not going to happen. Nintendo killed off the 3DS in favor of the switch. Dedicated handhelds are over!

@TrickyDicky99 I didn't argue that point. Doesn't explain why would Capcom would add a free Vr2 mode if it was completely dead. Are you a Meta fanboy?.My point was there is a clear line in the sand on what people will pay. Anecdotally, I know 5 people who have the quest 2 for their kids and they either never use it or only play one game. They got it for the novelty and because it was only around 200 bucks. And the figures back it up as total VR headset sales have plummeted by 40%. The masses don't want better VR, they want cheap VR. Otherwise it's niche

I'm not someone who plays a ton of VR anyway. I'm happy with the library PSVR2 has . I haven't even gotten to half the games I have. Eventually I'll get around the RE 8 & 4. Usually I just play GT7.

@mvhess I think Sony funded the Capcom games for their VR ports, but it looks like Sony funding 3rd party games has dried up, or at least from some studios.

I'm not sure why being a realist means I'm a fanboy of another platform? Is Greg Miller a Meta fanboy because he said PSVR2 was DOA and has been outspoken about PSVR2 being dead?

@TrickyDicky99 Because you're replying to every comment saying it's dead and keep bringing up Meta. There are well over 50 games scheduled to release this year on it and it's only January. Maybe Sony isn't supporting it but it's not dead. Wait, are you that guy who bragged about having over 100 VR games and refused to play GoW Ragnarok because it was also releasing on PS4? I think you are. You're a tool. I forgot to ignore you.

@mvhess Because it is dead. And I only bring up Meta when people say VR is dead or extremely niche, Quest 2 proved that's not the case.

You sound like someone who can't enjoy a product unless the product is praised to the high heaven or needs reassurance just to get to sleep at night.

And blame Sony, not me

@TrickyDicky99 did you just describe yourself?
You're the one with the hang up admitting VR being niche... It is.

I already made the point that headset sales have dropped off 40 percent. The quest 2 is selling because of the price. People just want to try it out and play Beat Saber. That 20 million number has not translated to game sales except for a very few select games. Very very few VR games have even sold 1 million copies. Why would any serious VR person buy the quest 2 when it's not even powerful enough to play VRa best games? I may get a Quest 3 in the future but most of the time, I have to have one foot in reality. I rarely get time to myself to be unaware of my surroundings

Am I the only one not really wanting Rec Room as it was a dumpster fire full of 8 year olds. I also don't know how people commenting saying PSVR2 is dead when it's releasing games weekly with Vertigo 2, bulletstorm and toy trains last week, Ultra Wings 2 today. Granted Sony should be more active on the news front, but it's kind of been like that with the switch to State of Play over the last years.

@SonOfClement no you're not the only one. There are plenty of games coming this year for psvr2. Personally, I think third party game makers would be stupid not to release their games on as many platforms as possible. Free to play games, yeah I don't think people buy Playstation for those types of games

@mvhess Why would any serious VR player buy a Quest? Because it can be hooked up to a PC and now every Unreal Engine game is playable in VR. Go and look at an dedicated VR Youtube channels, hardly any PSVR2 videos, mostly Quest and PCVR. PSVR2 hardly gets any coverage on site like UploadVR either.

I would ask why would any serious VR player buy a PSVR2?

@TrickyDicky99 I already told you I don't play much VR. I shouldn't have said that because it buried my point which is it's estimated that the retention of quest 2 is about 10%. VR is niche. Deal with it. Doesn't mean you can't enjoy it

@SgtTruth have you tried asgards wrath 2 yet? V good. Assassins creeds decent too

@mvhess I've been enjoying VR since 2017, I have multiple headsets

Just a pity Sony completely dropped the ball with PSVR2 and made it a failure

Sony needs to make PSVR2 compatible with PC. That will help sell units.

@mvhess best thing I did was put him on ignore. He's not worth anyone's time. He's just sad about his life and all he does is troll.

As I said right from the beginning, for an accessory that's costs more than console required to play it (lol), and the mixed messaging of Sony wanting gamers to go both 4K and VR, psvr2 was not going to succeed.

@naruball I know. I've gotten into it with him before. I don't think he lives anywhere but VR. He was constantly bragging about how many VR games he has.

@mvhess he's just anti-Sony, not just anti-psvr2. No matter what Sony does isn't good enough. Admitted he hasn't bought a Sony game in ages. Only here to stir trouble. Best ignored.

@naruball lol, so whatever time he spends in actual reality, he spends it being a troll on a PlayStation website? What a life

@SgtTruth good call in the prescription lenses. Was tempted by the psvr2 but thankfully just updated from the quest 2 to the 3, can't go back to tethered now 😀 hope you enjoy ag2, it's a lot of fun. AC is good too but haven't put a lot of time into it yet 👍

@TrickyDicky99 @charliechoochoo Ah, here you are again TrickyDicky with the same old pcvr fanboy rhetoric 🤣🤣 Always makes me smile given you’ve said previously you don’t even own a psvr2.

Glad you’re a fan of GamertagVR though - same here - not sure which video you were referencing as the link has been removed but have you watched his recent video about making a bet re psvr2? he talks a lot about the over-negativity towards PSVR2 and about people desperate to slag it off all the time (hmmm, who does that sound like???). But that one doesn’t quite fit your normal negative stance does it so no doubt you’ll ignore that one.

I do think the UEVR mod looks amazing and am currently saving up for a beefy pc so I can experience both psvr2 and pcvr but I won’t be constantly going onto sites just to attack one headset or the other.

@Hamst88 I'm not a PCVR fanboy and yes I don't own a PSVR2 as it's a dead platform.

I was actually really looking forward to PSVR2, it's the main reason I got a PS5, but Sony absolutely dropped the ball with it, I'm not putting up with another VR gen of mediocre indies like I did with PSVR1. I got a PSVR1 shortly after launch, bought around 130 games, I dealt with the games being pretty rubbish because VR was in it's infancy, I'm not buying 'experiences' and low quality games for another 7 years, but you do you.

@Hamst88 Out of curiosity, when did you buy a PSVR1 and how many PSVR1 games did you buy?

@Hamst88 I just recently watched a recent UploadVR podcast, they say how PSVR2 is a failure and it's astonishing how a peripheral costs more than the console

I also watched a recent Recentered podcast where they all say they had high hopes for PSVR2 but it's a dead platform and they are considering selling theirs as they don't use it.

Kindafunny games also says PSVR2 is dead, I guess Greg Miller is a troll right?

MRTV claims Sony dropped the ball with PSVR2

But I guess all these people are trolls?

@TrickyDicky99 And I can list a bunch of people that are far more positive about PSVR2 - GamertagVR (who you’ve conveniently dropped), PSVR2withoutparole, Myles Dyer, Polish Paul, etc - what does that prove exactly? Nothing. You can find a YouTuber / website to back up any view you want. Only the next couple of years will show who’s right.

Would I class any of the people you listed as trolls? Absolutely not. But then they don’t go onto a PlayStation site and post the same negative comments about PSVR2 over and over and over on pretty much Every. Single. Article.

@Hamst88 People can be positive all they like, but the facts speak for themselves.

As it will be the one year anniversary in a few weeks we'll see if Sony have any more updates on PSVR2 regarding sales, future games etc and then we'll see how dead it really is.

@naruball Haha, but he's right though. PSVR2 is dead but not the portal 🤣🤣🤣