Apple Vision Pro is finally getting dedicated VR controllers
When the Apple Vision Pro came out in February of this year many people immediately asked why it didn’t have any controllers. Apple wanted its headset to be different — relying solely on hand and eye movement — and so it didn’t release any dedicated controllers for it. That was a mistake that the company is now looking to correct by partnering with Sony.
Bloomberg’s industry insider Mark Gurman reports in his newsletter that Apple approached Sony a few months ago regarding controller support for Vision Pro. The headset didn’t support any of today’s best VR games and that, coupled with the ludicrous price tag, really hurt its sales. In fact, Gurman reveals that the Vision Pro has likely sold less than half a million units which is far less than what Apple had anticipated and hoped for.
So now Apple wants its headset to have dedicated VR controllers which will hopefully let developers port over their VR games. To do this Apple and Sony are partnering to bring the PSVR2 controllers to the Vision Pro. These controllers will likely be sold separately on Apple’s website as well after this partnership is announced publicly.
In addition to gaming the PSVR2 controllers will also help navigate visionOS: the operating system that powers the headset. This is because the eye and hand tracking — though very good — is still not perfect.
The Vision Pro should be able to run most games with its M2 chip and the biggest problem will probably be battery life. If gaming does come to the Vision Pro — aside from the handful of titles on Apple Arcade — it will have to be done while the headset is plugged in. On the plus side games should look stunning on the Vision Pro’s micro-OLED displays.
I’m glad that Apple has finally seen some sense and I’m resisting the urge to email them an “I told you so” even though I didn’t. Gaming is the largest entertainment industry on the planet and it makes up the majority of VR use cases and I have no clue why the Vision Pro didn’t support it from the start.
But this means that future Vision Pro headsets — which will hopefully be cheaper as well — will provide a lot more incentive to purchase them.
Didn’t quite work out the way Apple wanted. | Video credit — Apple
In addition to gaming the PSVR2 controllers will also help navigate visionOS: the operating system that powers the headset. This is because the eye and hand tracking — though very good — is still not perfect.
The Vision Pro should be able to run most games with its M2 chip and the biggest problem will probably be battery life. If gaming does come to the Vision Pro — aside from the handful of titles on Apple Arcade — it will have to be done while the headset is plugged in. On the plus side games should look stunning on the Vision Pro’s micro-OLED displays.
But this means that future Vision Pro headsets — which will hopefully be cheaper as well — will provide a lot more incentive to purchase them.
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