PlayStation VR isn’t set for release until later this year, but Richard Marks, one of the main people behind the device, is already looking towards the future.
In an interview with Polygon, Marks revealed that Sony believes there will be a follow-up to PlayStation VR somewhere down the road:
We definitely believe [there will be a follow-up someday]. We’re doing everything and planning and setting it up so that we would know how to make a next one, and make that make sense for our customers and stuff, so yeah, we don’t think of this as a one-and-done by a long shot. And we also don’t think VR is like that.
For now though, Marks thinks Sony will continue to research new control options like eye tracking, as well as ways of making you’re more aware of your entire body when in virtual reality.
Meanwhile, Jeff Stafford, an engineer in Sony Computer Entertainment America’s R&D division who’s been working on PSVR for five years, joked that he’ll probably still be working on the device in another five years. This is because they’ll constantly try to improve the headset by making it lighter, smaller, and easier to use, while also looking at making it wireless:
We’re going to try and improve every aspect of it. Get it lighter, smaller form factor, easier to use. Of course people want wireless — that’s a challenge. There’s so many things. People want to see their hands in VR, or see their body in VR. … You get all of that [and then], ‘Okay, I want to be able to feel things in VR.’ It’s the next thing. ‘Okay, can I smell this virtual coffee?’ You know, at some point many years in the future I’m sure there will be some new amazing technology where it gives you a lot of these things. But even now, there’s so many experiences that can be created with the current technology. We haven’t really seen any of it yet. We’ll start to see it soon.
More PlayStation VR details will hopefully be revealed next week on March 15 during Sony’s press event.
[Source: Polygon]
