Just when it seemed PC support was Sony’s last word on the PlayStation VR2the company is showing off manual tracking for virtual reality headsets. As noted by LoadVRSony demonstrated support for controller-less hand tracking on the PSVR2 at SIGGRAPH Asia 2024, an academic conference and trade show focused on “computer graphics and interactive techniques.”
Sony hasn’t made any official announcement explaining the new feature, but a published description of what he will present at SIGGRAPH he mentions that support for hand tracking is “available with the latest PlayStation 5 development kit”. Noted mixed that Sony had filed a patent for several hand tracking features in May 2023, but this is the first example of that work done on a real headset.
In addition to feeling more natural than moving on a controller, hand tracking allows for more nuanced movement and control in apps and games. When you press a virtual button in a game with hand tracking, you may not feel the tactile feedback you’d get by gripping a controller, but what you’re doing with your hand is much closer to real life. A video of the demonstration shared on X shows hand tracking working on a PSVR2 with a similar level of fidelity and latency to hand tracking on a Research 3so it seems like Sony’s feature might work well.
While it’s strange that the company hasn’t turned this into an announcement yet, the fact that hand tracking support exists is a good sign for headphone owners that Sony is still interested. The PSVR 2 was released in 2023 as an impressive, if expensive, piece of VR hardware. Things like headset optics, eye tracking, and great first party gaming Horizon VR: Call of the Mountains It made it stand out. But since then, the headset hasn’t found the support it needed to catch on. Major in-house studios haven’t developed many VR games, and Sony has developers fired from the studios they have, as the creators of The call of the mountainsSpirit of fire. In the month of June, Android Central reported that Sony had also drastically cut the budget for future virtual reality development.
The release of the PS VR2 PC adapter in August 2024 seemed like the final nail in the coffin. If Sony wasn’t going to make more games, at least you could play the giant library of PC VR games on Steam. Manual tracking support may not mean that Sony’s commitment to VR headsets has changed since then, but it’s a sign that PSVR2 can improve even if it’s never a priority.
