PS VR2 Not Backward Compatible with Original PSVR Games, Headset “Truly Next-Gen” Says Sony

Sony’s new PlayStation VR2 headset isn’t that far away, and thus far, not that many games have been announced for the new platform. Around 10 games, including Resident Evil Village and Horizon Call of the Mountain, are the extent of it so far. But hey, you can always pop in some old PSVR games and enjoy them with some new PS VR2 bells and whistles, right? Well, about that…

On the latest episode of the Official PlayStation Podcast, SVP of PlayStation VR 2 platform experience Hideaki Nishino confirms the PS VR2 headset does not offer backward compatibility. That is to say, you can’t play your original PSVR games on the new hardware.

“PSVR games are not compatible with PS VR2, because PS VR2 is designed to deliver a truly next-generation VR experience. PS VR2 has much more advanced features like an all-new controller with haptics feedback and adaptive triggers, and an inside-out tracking, eye-tracking, 3D audio, HDR of course. This means, developing games for PS VR2 requires a whole different approach than the original PSVR.”

Disappointing news to be sure, although perhaps not that surprising. PlayStation VR2 isn’t just a simple power or clarity boost, it does things in different ways that wouldn’t necessarily be compatible with older VR tech. I suspect a big issue are the new dedicated PS VR2 controllers (the original PSVR just used PlayStation Move controllers) – at the very least pretty much everything made for the original PSVR would need a major patch to completely re-do the game’s controls.

While PlayStation VR2 won’t launch with a huge library, it is apparently a pretty impressive piece of tech. You can check out some impressions of the headset, and major early titles like Resident Evil Village and Horizon Call of the Mountain, right here.

PlayStation VR 2 launches sometime in early 2023. What do you think? Does a lack of backward compatibility change your opinion of the system or were you only going to play new PS VR2 exclusives anyways?