by While the original PlayStation VR was an admirable first effort for Sony, it was also an awkward piece of hardware. It launched when consumer-focused headsets were in their nascency, which is probably why Sony could get away with a jerry-rigged chimera of old and new technology. The headset looked slick and was comfortable, but its displays left a lot to be desired, the setup was frustrating, and it used controllers that were a generation older than the PS4. PSVR felt like a solution hurriedly thrown together to make the most of an emerging trend.
Its successor, the PlayStation VR 2, is the opposite in almost every way. It’s a thoughtfully designed piece of hardware that is powerful and delivers a user-friendly, plug-and-play experience that is almost entirely frictionless. The technology powering it is modern, making it a worthy companion to the PlayStation 5, and its Sense controllers are designed specifically for gaming in VR spaces. The PSVR 2 is undoubtedly a major step forward for PlayStation’s virtual reality ambitions and one of the best headsets on the market, but in the ever-shifting landscape of virtual reality, its price and current value proposition leave it in an awkward position once again.