PSVR 2 takes home the Golden Joystick Award for Best Gaming Hardware of 2023

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We told you it was worth its weight in gold...

PSVR 2 winning at the Golden Joystick Awards 2023
(Image credit: Sony)

Sony's PlayStation VR 2 has won the Hardware of the Year prize at the Golden Joystick Awards. 

PSVR 2 arrived in February to mass acclaim and kicked off what would be a terrific calendar year for virtual reality technology. Even outside of its own market, competition has been fierce. Gaming hardware has well and truly recovered from the chip shortage issues of the pandemic era, and there have been some astounding bits of hardware and technology released in 2023. 

PSVR 2 was widely rumored and hotly anticipated in the latter stages of 2022, and despite complaints about pricing, the lack of backwards compatibility with Sony's first visor, and arguably misleading reports of poor sales, PSVR 2 has taken home the gold for so many reasons. 

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The full list of nominees for this year's hardware awards can be seen below:

If its astounding OLED display doesn't ground you in a virtual world, PSVR 2's haptic feedback and best-in-class controllers definitely will. Not only is PSVR 2 a massive leap above its predecessor but it's shown the VR market that the best innovations and highest specs don't need to cost over a grand.

The arrival of PSVR 2 sparked a 2023 filled with mainstream interest in VR. Coming off the heels of the disappointing Meta Quest Pro, and arriving in a market filled with very expensive PC devices, PSVR 2 reminded the mainstream gaming masses that this is an exciting and emergent way to play games. 

As the library of games for PSVR 2 has grown, Sony has made a clear statement that it's here to support its next-gen headset. PSVR 2 has made a clear rival out of the Meta Quest 3 and with the upcoming Apple Vision Pro waiting in the wings, the VR market is about to seriously heat up. 

PSVR 2 jumped straight to the top of our best VR headset list when it launched, overtaking 2020's highly popular Meta Quest 2. 

Discover the best games of 2023 at the best prices by checking out the Golden Joystick Awards Steam sale page

Duncan Robertson
Duncan Robertson
Hardware Editor

One of my earliest memories is playing SuperMario64 and wondering why the controller I held had three grips, but I only had two hands. Ever since I've been in love with video games and their technology. After graduating from Edinburgh Napier University with a degree in Journalism, I contributed to the Scottish Games Network and completed an Editorial Internship at Expert Reviews. Over the last decade, I’ve been managing my own YouTube channel about my love of games too. These days, I'm one of the resident hardware nerds at GamesRadar+, and I take the lead on our coverage of gaming PCs, VR, controllers, gaming chairs, and content creation gear. Now, I better stop myself here before I get talking about my favourite games like HUNT: Showdown, Dishonored, and Towerfall Ascension.