Sony has officially confirmed that PSVR2 will not be able to play games originally made for the original PlayStation VR.
In the latest episode of the Official PlayStation Podcast, at around the 29:10 mark, SVP of Platform Experience, Hideaki Nishino, confirms that the PSVR2 will not have backwards compatibility with original PSVR games. “PSVR games are not compatible with PSVR2 because PSVR2’s designed to deliver a truly next-generation VR experience,” Nishino said before explaining some of the noteworthy features exclusive to PSVR2, such as the haptic feedback and adaptive triggers found on the Sense Controllers.
“This means developing games for PSVR2 requires a whole different approach than the original PSVR,” Nishino continued.
The news seems surprising but not entirely, as Sony created an adapter that allows you to play original PSVR games on the PlayStation 5. On top of that, last month, Sony Interactive Entertainment’s Yasuo Takahashi and Kenjo Akiyama spoke about the PSVR2’s hardware and specs, noting that the broad strokes should make it easier to port games onto PSVR2 from other VR headsets (e.g., original PSVR and Valve Index).
PlayStation VR2 won’t be out until sometime next year, and multiple games have been confirmed to be in development for the headset. Including Among Us VR and Ghostbusters VR, along with VR versions of Resident Evil Village, No Man’s Sky, and Resident Evil 4 remake. Additionally, first-party games, Horizon: Call of the Mountain and a sequel to Firewall: Zero Hour are also in development.
For more on PlayStation VR2, check out our first hands-on preview.
Taylor is the Associate Tech Editor at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.
