Sony is reportedly working on a next-generation PlayStation Virtual Reality (PSVR 2) headset to compliment PlayStation 5. However, the in-development status is the only thing known about the hardware for the time being. There have been a few speculations about the specifications but nothing concrete, at least until now.
Earlier today, Japan Display Inc. (JDI) announced (via Road To VR) the mass production of a new high pixel density LCD display for virtual reality headsets. Since the conglomerated was created by Sony, alongside Toshiba and Hitachi, the likelihood of PSVR 2 featuring these new displays can hardly be overlooked.
The new JDI-created display will feature a 1600 x 1600 resolution per eye and be clocked at 120Hz. The 2.1-inch 1058 ppi panel will in addition boast a 4.5 ms response time, global blinking backlights, and a brightness of 430 nits. The last display from JDI for virtual reality headsets was larger at 3.25 inches but with a lower pixel density of 1,001 ppi. The panel, which was 2,160 × 2,432 resolution and also clocked at 120Hz, did however boast a lower latency of 2.2 ms.
This display is used in VR glasses that have already been introduced to the market, and it is expected that the market will continue to grow as users can more easily experience pleasant VR spaces.
In comparison, the current PSVR uses 386 ppi and 1920 x 1080 resolution for its one 5.7-inch screen. While many were hoping to have PSVR 2 support 4K resolution, the ground reality is that PlayStation 5, even with its powerful specifications, would not have been able to natively handle stable frame-rates at that high resolution.
Sony has officially acknowledge the fact that PlayStation 5 will not release alongside PSVR 2. That, however, doesn’t mean the company is skipping the virtual reality market. Based on a verified report from earlier this week, PSVR 2 is indeed in the works but slated for launch sometime later — perhaps late 2021.
Sony has also been spotted filing several virtual reality-related patents over the past months. The most recent, for example, had the company interested in using eye-tracking to initiate a chat with other players in virtual reality environments. The patent was most probably for PSVR 2 and aims to have players just look at other in-game characters in their eyes to start a chat session.
