Apple might have just announced the release date for the Vision Pro, but it’s not the only company using the week of CES to push VR to customers who aren’t gamers. At its press conference at the Las Vegas Convention Center on Monday, Sony teased a new VR headset that’s built for filmmakers and artists.
This isn’t Sony’s first foray into VR, as the company released the Playstation VR2 headset last year. A lightweight device that used the horsepower of the PlayStation 5 to play games at high fidelity, it was nonetheless limited by its inability to run non-PlayStation apps.
Enter Sony’s new VR and AR headset. Currently unnamed, the device comes with strong specs — including 4K OLED displays and a Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2 chip. This lets it both hit high resolutions and operate independently of a console, making it more versatile than its PS5-centric cousin.
Case in point: it’s being sold to create content, not play it. “We are happy to announce a new solution for spatial content creation,” Sony CEO Kenichiro Yoshida said at the press conference. “With a crisp viewing experience and intuitive interaction for 3D design.”
Sony’s being serious about that intuitive interaction. While most VR headsets use game-like controllers, and Apple’s uses just hand tracking, Sony’s new headset will instead opt for a single, touch-operated pointer and a ring.
Other details, such as pricing, are still light. But the company made it clear that, like Apple’s Vision Pro, this isn’t just a VR headset, as it will also allow wearers to see a full-color video feed of the outside world, even “overlaying virtual objects into physical spaces.” To further connect creators to the real world, the front of the headset can even be flipped up like a visor, returning the user to reality.
Sony’s new headset will be available sometime in 2024.
