In an interview with Japanese newspaper Nikkei, Sony EVP of product and software design Masayasu Ito hinted that the firm is considering PlayStation VR (PSVR) compatibility with PCs.
So, if you haven’t been comparing Sony’s virtual reality (VR) headset against the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive on account of it being bound to the PS4, then you had better start.
Specifically, Ito mentioned to Nikkei that the PS4’s internals are similar to a PC’s. To that end, Ito went on to say that, while it’s “not at the stage to announce something,” PSVR would be “spread out in various fields,” Nikkei reports.
But why go PC?
When you ponder why in the world Sony would make the PSVR a PC-compatible device, it immediately makes sense: both the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive are, arguably, prohibitively expensive. At $399 (£349, about AU$528), PSVR is half the price of HTC’s solution and one-third cheaper than Oculus’s.
That would put Sony in the advantageous position of being the most “affordable” VR solution for PC gamers – or, at the very least, more approachable than the rest. But that potential affordability would come two-fold.
Not only is the PSVR cheaper in its own right, but the PC hardware required to properly run games through Sony’s headset would be cheaper, too. If PSVR was built first for the PS4’s system-on-a-chip (or SoC) platform, surely it would work with lower-power computers better than Oculus and HTC’s high-end demands.
Aiming for the low-end of the VR gaming market on PC would enable Sony to compete on all fronts and extend the device’s reach. Throw in some exclusive content on PS4 for PSVR, and you’ve just sold a helluva lot more consoles – to PC gamers, no less.
We’ve reached out to Sony for comment and will update this story should we receive a statement.
Via Ubergizmo
