PlayStation Job Listing Hints at Next-Gen PSVR Headset

A new job listing hints that Sony may be starting to develop new VR hardware which could be an eventual successor to PSVR.

“Sony is one of the hottest companies in the VR market, and we are also focusing on next-generation VR development,” reads a Google translation of the job listing that was spotted by UploadVR. “The job of this job is to develop a mechanism for a VR head-mounted display with a view to five years from now, and there is the real pleasure of delivering unprecedented beautiful images and comfortable usability to customers.”

While it’s pretty clear that parts of the job listing require a more refined translation/official comment from Sony to better decipher, the part about the job being related to a project which the company doesn’t intend to release for quite some time is the piece that catching everyone’s attention.

Let’s assume for a moment that the five-year window is fairly accurate. If that is the case, then it would seem unlikely that this project is related to a kind of direct PS5 replacement of the PSVR platform. The lifespans of successful consoles typically run from 5-7 years, so if this new headset was released around that time for the PS5, it wouldn’t come until later in the game.

No, this almost sounds like Sony may be working on a next-gen VR headset (let’s just call it the PSVR 2 for conversation’s sake). While that headset may ultimately be compatible with the PS5, it seems more likely that Sony is looking even further in the future to plan for what the future of VR may look like from a hardware perspective.

So far as that goes, the job listing doesn’t really expand on many of the technical ambitions of this hardware beyond some pretty basic stuff. It would seem to go without saying that they intend for this to be more powerful than the current PSVR platform, but it’s not clear exactly how much of an upgrade this next-gen headset would actually represent.

It will be interesting to see whether or not Sony ultimately sticks with the PSVR’s emphasis on accessibility. While the PSVR was initially criticized for being noticeably weaker than its PC counterparts, the headset’s affordable price ultimately helped make it one of the more successful VR options among a wider variety of users. So while it makes sense that Sony may choose to pursue a more powerful headset for the future, the relative success of the PSVR may inspire them to emphasize future headsets that are more accessible/affordable.

We’ll keep you updated regarding additional PlayStation VR details as more information becomes available.