Sony has finally confirmed that the upcoming PSVR 2 headset will not be backwards compatible with original PSVR games.
"PSVR games are not compatible with PSVR 2," SVP of platform experience Hideaki Nishino said on the latest Official PlayStation Podcast, "because PSVR 2 is designed to deliver a truly next-generation VR experience. PSVR 2 has much more advanced features like all-new controller haptics feedback, adaptive triggers, inside-out tracking, eye-tracking, 3D audio is coming together, 4K, and HDR, of course.
"So this means developing games for PSVR 2 requires a whole different approach than the original PSVR. These features actually enable developers to create worlds that feel more vivid and alive, and bring players closer to the gameplay experience than ever. I believe that. Games like Resident Evil Village and Horizon: Call of the Mountain show how developers are using PSVR 2 to deliver a whole new level of visual and audio sensory immersion in VR games, which was a really nice experience to me. I really enjoyed that."
It's worth noting, of course, that the PS5 also features all-new controller haptic feedback, adaptive triggers, 3D audio, 4K, and HDR, and despite that remains backwards compatible with the vast majority of the PS4 library.
Obviously, though, that's not really the point. PSVR 2 features an entirely different tracking system compared with the original PSVR, so games would either need to be updated for the new system or use some sort of universal interpretation to make the games compatible. This sort of thing already happens to make PC VR games compatible with a wide variety of headsets, but that won't be the case with PSVR 2.
