Apple is reportedly making good headway on its quest to convey controllers to Imaginative and prescient Professional, as Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman maintains a collaboration with Sony to convey assist for PSVR 2’s controllers to Apple’s headset continues to be on observe.
Gurman famous late final 12 months that Apple had approached Sony in early 2024, which allegedly was part of a “monthslong endeavor” to convey PSVR 2 controller assist to Apple’s $3,500 XR headset. On the time, Apple was additionally reportedly in discussions with third-party builders to combine controller assist into their video games.
“[A]ll indicators level to this venture nonetheless being in growth,” Gurman writes in his latest ‘Energy On’ e-newsletter, noting assist may seemingly arrive in a software program replace later this 12 months through visionOS 3.
Notably, Apple launched Imaginative and prescient Professional in February 2024 with out the addition of controllers, relying as a substitute on its built-in hand and eye-tracking capabilities—an extension of the headset’s ethos as a normal computing platform over the type of sport console ambitions of gadgets like Meta Quest.
Selecting Sony as a accomplice makes a great deal of sense right here, as the corporate has already reduce PSVR 2 free from its PS5 console ecosystem by providing assist for PC VR video games through a purchasable PC adapter, which some have seen as an indication of wavering dedication to spend money on its newest VR headset. Moreover, the deal would permit Apple to supply a well-known controller normal for builders to focus on while circuitously competing with Sony within the course of.
Supplied the report is true, supporting movement controllers marks a decisive shift by Apple to enchantment to mainstream VR players—or no less than what you’d come to count on from a contemporary XR headset. Even earlier than Imaginative and prescient Professional launched, trade rumors alleged Apple wasn’t eager on making controllers or supporting third-party controllers both.
Nonetheless, that hasn’t stopped third-parties from doing the legwork themselves, Apple be damned. Most notable is Surreal Contact controllers, which raised $127,000 through Kickstarter, which critically don’t depend on Imaginative and prescient Professional’s monitoring capabilities in any respect, as a substitute utilizing on-board cameras to trace their place, much like Meta’s Contact Professional controllers. To study extra, take a look at XR trade veteran Nima Zeighami’s early impressions of Surreal Contact.
