PS5 VR Details Leak From Private Developers Conference

It's arguable that Facebook's Oculus now takes up the majority of the attention in the virtual reality market, but it is hardly the only major player. HTC is still actively working on Vive, and Microsoft's Windows Mixed Reality also dips into that field. And then there's PlayStation VR, the only console-based system among the VR giants. With the new PlayStation 5 console, however, the interest in a VR system to match has also grown. Fortunately, Sony does seem to have big plans for what the PS5 VR will offer, both in hardware and content.

The Next-Gen VR or NGVR, the alleged codename for the PS5 VR, will come with a headset that will boast significant upgrades over its predecessor. Considering the PSVR pictured above hasn't exactly gotten major upgrades since it launched in 2016, that's not exactly a surprising revelation.

According to the details reported by PSVR Without Parole, the headset will feature a new HDR OLED screen with a combined 4000x2040 resolution and 110 field-of-view. Eye-tracking will be used to implement foveated rendering, and a new flexible scaling resolution will supposedly improve performance. The new controllers will also allegedly have capacitive touch sensors for the thumb, index, and middle finger, probably for finger tracking.

An upgraded VR system, however, also needs upgraded VR experiences, and Sony is looking into bringing AAA titles to its VR ecosystem. That might mean requiring new titles to support a hybrid VR version alongside the regular flat screen game. There is no word yet on backward compatibility, though.

This PS5 VR upgrade could take Sony's VR system to the next level and help it catch up with its peers. Unfortunately, it seems that fans will have to wait next year for that to happen.