The PlayStation VR2 headset is finally being liberated from the confines of the PlayStation 5. Sony now has a $60 adapter that lets your $550 VR headset work with any of their Steam-based VR games. But hold off from slamming the buy button just yet. There are a few tradeoffs for taking your VR2 to PC, some of which take away the PSVR2’s best features.
The adapter connects the VR2 to a PC with several cables. In the images accompanying PlayStation’s blog post, The normally wireless VR2 has a wired connection to the adapter box, which connects to the PC via USB and DisplayPort. A separate connection can also be attached to a monitor for the benefit of anybody watching you stumble through the finicky hacking puzzles in Half-Life: Alyx.
The thing is, you’ll also need to have a PC with a DisplayPort 1.4 output and a separate DisplayPort cable. Otherwise, the minimum specs are about what you expect, with a minimum of Intel Core i5-7600 or AMD Ryzen 3 3100 CPU, 8 GB of RAM, and upwards of an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 or an AMD Radeon RX 5500XT, though really you’ll want a fair bit beefier rig if you want to play any games to the 4K standards supported on the VR2. Sony also says you need a Steam account to access your games, though if there are any specific Steam VR requirements, we imagine that won’t last too long, thanks to the mod-happy PC VR community.
Our review of the VR2 found it to be a great headset with excellent eye tracking and controls, and it was priced well. Unfortunately, it was limited by a rather paltry selection of games on PlayStation 5. Sony released its updated headset before Meta introduced the $500 Meta Quest 3 with its updated passthrough AR capabilities and access to a number of exclusive titles. The VR2 has some impressive in-headset lenses supporting up to 4K resolutions per eye and a full 110-degree field of view.
However, as exciting as this seems, there are several significant limitations to taking the VR2 to PC. For one, the headset’s eye-tracking won’t work on a PC. You also won’t have other key features like HDR and the headset feedback. The controllers will also miss the adaptive triggers similar to the DualSense controller and more haptic feedback other than the base rumble. The limited passthrough features will still work with PC, though that’s mainly there to stop you from stubbing your toe on nearby furniture.
The adapter should be available on PlayStation Direct and other retailers this August. The VR2 is currently $100 off through Direct during Sony’s Days of Play sale through June 13.
Still, even with a discount, the VR2 costs a hefty sum, especially if you need to pay $60 to take the headset away from Sony’s restrictive PlayStation ecosystem. We’ll want to have one in hand to see if it finally makes the VR2 worth it for the virtual reality-curious, but the connection requirements and feature limitations do sour the mood.