The first time you play Horizon Call of the Mountain, you’ll be blown away by its visuals. The year-old PSVR 2 launch game still has some of the best visuals on the system, but those quickly degrade when you start moving. That’s because, like many PSVR 2 games, Horizon Calls the Mountain actually only runs at 60 frames per second, rather than 90 or 120 fps.
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The problem is that 60fps isn’t fast enough to keep most players from feeling uncomfortable, so the game has to use a feature called reprojection, which uses a clever algorithm to nearly double the frame rate.
While it sounds good on paper, Sony’s algorithm isn’t as good as the one Meta uses on the Quest headset, and it leaves a weird ghosting motion blur look that may be uncomfortable for some players. Rumor has it that the PS5 Pro will be released later this year and will include a new PS5 Pro Enhanced certification that guarantees minimum frame rates for games with a seal. Will this be enough to finally fix PSVR 2’s framerate issues?
Isn’t PS5 powerful enough?
The PS5 is approaching its fourth anniversary, marking what some are calling the halfway point in its life cycle. As a result, Sony is preparing new, more powerful hardware to give the ecosystem a mid-term hit. Surprisingly, the PS4 Pro launched just three years into the PS4’s life cycle, while Sony allegedly waited an extra year for the PS5 Pro.
Many people, including developers, are wondering why Sony is already upgrading the hardware. But looking at leaked performance metrics proves exactly why we need new hardware, especially for VR games.
PS5 Pro is said to render 45% faster than PS5, including up to four times the ray tracing performance. It is said that PS5 Pro can provide a total of 33.5 TFLOPS of FP16 performance, which is more than three times the 10.3 TFLOPS of PS5. This is enough to boost PSVR 2 games from 60 fps to 90 fps, something many games desperately need.
It is reported that the raw performance of PS5 Pro is 3 times that of PS5, coupled with AI upgrades, it can further improve performance and quality.
Additionally, Sony is reportedly launching a new AI-based upscaling technology called PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution Upscaling. Abbreviated as PSSR.
As we’ve seen with technologies like Nvidia’s DLSS, AI upscaling can have an incredible impact on a game’s frame rate. DLSS 3.5, launching in Spring 2023, features AI-based light reconstruction, meaning AI is used to determine the final pixel color without the graphics card having to perform expensive rendering work to reach that point itself.
The difference in frame rates with this technology enabled is staggering, as evidenced by an example from Cyberpunk 2077:
Too many PSVR 2 games run at 60 fps and project at 120 fps, causing ghosting and motion blur.
The jump from 20fps to 108fps simply by enabling one feature is incredible and proves that the rumored PS5 Pro can achieve the same effect in PSVR 2 games thanks to its PSSR technology.
Better yet, this might even mean the game runs at a proper 120 fps, rather than the mid-range 90 fps I mentioned earlier. This will give PSVR 2 games another clear visual advantage compared to the best Meta Quest games, as they’ll not only look more complex, but also run at smoother frame rates. By comparison, most Meta Quest 3 games target 90fps.
By far the biggest reason why PSVR 2 games aren’t reaching their full visual potential seems to be that the software development tools aren’t ready yet. Now, it feels like Sony has finally got everything together to make it a good experience. Unfortunately for Sony, it may be too late.
But can it save PSVR 2?
My biggest concern is that this still won’t be enough to make Sony care about PSVR 2 again. The system initially sold better than the original PSVR, but Sony’s complete lack of first-party support did little to convince gamers that they should buy it instead of Meta Quest 3, which already had more support from developers at all levels.
The problem with first-party games isn’t limited to PSVR 2 games, however. Gamers are generally unhappy with Sony’s lack of first-party games on the PS5. A Reddit thread compares the PS4’s library of exclusive first-party games to the PS5.
According to the post, Sony released 10 PS4-exclusive first-party games in the first three years of the system’s launch. Compared to the paltry three in PS5 life, it begs the question: What exactly is Sony doing?
Sony doesn’t seem to be taking first-party development seriously this generation, but that’s not just a PSVR 2 problem.
These numbers also don’t include VR games, which makes the PS5 list look even worse. To make matters worse, Sony has just closed its London studio that specialized in VR and laid off employees across most other first-party studios.
Additionally, Sony confirmed that no major franchise games will be released in 2024. That doesn’t mean Sony won’t release new games this year; It’s just that its famous series isn’t being released this year.
So while it seems like the technical issues could be solved by adding tools like foveated rendering, PSSR, and even new hardware like the PS5 Pro, I’m not sure Sony has invested enough in PSVR 2 development to turn things around.
As someone who bought PSVR 2 when it launched, I’m fully committed to seeing the system get better support and ultimately thrive. Sony will sell a few more PSVR 2 units once PCVR support comes online, but that doesn’t convince people that Sony’s VR ecosystem is worth investing in without more first-party exclusives.