Sony has dropped the price of the PSVR 2 from £529.99 to £399.99. But is it worth buying?
For that money, you can’t actually buy the Meta Quest 3, although the slightly less compelling Meta Quest 3S is cheaper still, starting at £289.99.
Here are the pros and cons prospective PSVR 2 buyers should consider.
Con: It needs a PlayStation 5
The PSVR 2 is not a standalone headset. You need to own a PlayStation 5 console, or a pretty powerful gaming PC and a PlayStation VR2 PC Adapter (£49.99). This turns the headset into a display for VR games on PC, not ones actually made for PSVR 2.
If you don’t already have a console, you’re looking at spending at least an additional £400 unless you shop for a second-hand PS5.
Pro: The VR experience is great
Sony’s PSVR 2 uses a small, very high-resolution OLED panel to create the image you see inside the headset.
This has a major benefit over the Quest 3 and Quest 3S, as contrast is much better, leading to a richer-looking image. Colour is bolder too.
Con: Meta Quest 3 looks sharper
The resolution of the Quest 3 and PSVR 2 are pretty similar. The Meta headset comes out the winner but not by a huge margin. However, in person, the Quest 3 has a clear advantage on sharpness thanks to its lenses.
Meta uses pancake design lenses in the Quest 3, whereas Sony uses classic fresnel lenses in the PSVR 2. It leads to a much (much) clearer image in your peripheral vision when wearing a Quest 3.
Pro: There are PSVR 2 exclusive experiences
Some games can only be played (in VR) on a PSVR 2, as you’d hope for from a Sony VR headset. These include Gran Turismo 7, Horizon Call of the Mountain and Resident Evil Village.
You couldn’t play these kinds of high-end games directly on a Meta Quest 3 either, not without getting a gaming PC involved, as the Quest has a phone-grade processor. It’s a good one, but there are limits.
Con: Ongoing game releases are limited
One of the most common criticism of PSVR 2 is that there are no games. We got a flurry in 2023 around the headset’s launch. But it all dried up fairly quickly, no doubt because it became immediately clear the PSVR 2 was not going to be a massive seller.
In 2025 you can look forward to Aces of Thunder, Wanderer: The Fragments of Fate and Hitman World of Assassination. But you can’t come expecting anything like the rapidity of releases seen on the PlayStation 5.
Pro: But you’re no longer tied to PlayStation 5
As mentioned earlier, the PSVR 2 is no longer entirely tethered to a PlayStation 5. With the help of an adapter, you can use it with a PC too.
This opens you up to loads more content, including the much-loved Half-Life: Alyx. Not every PSVR 2 feature works when connected to a PC. There’s no eye tracking or haptic effects. You can use the headset’s controllers, though, as they can pair up with a PC over Bluetooth.
Con: You are still tied to cables, though
The last point to remember is regardless of how you use it, the PSVR 2 is a cabled headset. There’s no battery inside the headset, so it always needs to be plugged in to work.
A true free-roaming headset where everything is packed inside — no cables needed — does have an appeal the PSVR 2 lacks.
Verdict
If you want a breezy and fun VR experience, you may still be better off with a Meta Quest 3 or Quest 3S than a PSVR 2. There are no cables, no need for additional hardware to actually play games. And while the PSVR 2 game scene is not dead, it’s not exactly booming either.
The key part here is to look at the experiences you can get on PSVR 2 already, particularly the higher-end ones you don’t get elsewhere, and ask yourself how keen you really are to try those out.
