Palmer Luckey, the mind behind the Oculus Rift, has heaped some significant praise on Sony's upcoming virtual reality device, the PS VR2 headset. Though the entrepreneur has since moved on from the world of virtual reality gaming, his is still a respected voice on the subject, so his comments of the PS VR2 carry weight.The VR gaming scene in 2023 will see some major shake-ups, as several companies are lined up to release or announce impressive new hardware. The PS VR2 and HTC Vive XR Elite are set to release this February, and the Meta Quest 3, formerly Luckey's Oculus line and now owned by Facebook, is expected to be announced later this year as well. The PS VR2 has been turning heads, being billed as a major upgrade to its predecessor. Its bespoke VR controllers will replace the PlayStation Move controllers utilized by the previous iteration, and the inclusions of haptic feedback and eye-tracking in the headset are firsts for VR devices.Apparently, one of the heads that's been turned is that of former PSVR competitor, Palmer Luckey, as he took to Twitter to make known his admiration. The Oculus designer and founder was responding to a post by Shuhei Yoshida, head of Playstation Indies. Yoshida shared an article by Android Authority in which it called the PS VR2 "a massive jump forward from the original." The publication had recently gotten its hands on the headset and seemingly walked away very impressed.
In response to Yoshida's post, Luckey stated that he was "blown away when [he] used PSVR 2 recently!" He went on to laud the accomplishments of the original PSVR, calling it "the biggest success of its generation." He concluded by stating his expectation that the PS VR2 will reach even grander heights. With its release on the horizon and pre-orders for the PS VR2 available, time will tell if his prophecy comes to pass.
Three years after Oculus was purchased by the social media giant, Palmer Luckey left Facebook, and founded defense technology company Anduril Industries. With the transition, Luckey has largely stayed away from the VR field, yet his opinion is still heard and respected. Yosihida replied to his compliments, thanking him and wishing him well. A simple response, but one that points to the continued respect Luckey commands, and which indicates a wish on Yoshida and Sony's part to retain professional relationships, despite Luckey's exit of the industry.
While it's true that he's mostly left the field, last November, Luckey unveiled a deadly headset inspired by Sword Art Online. If the entrepreneur does one day return to the industry, hopefully it won't be to produce similar devices.
PS VR2 will be available on February 22, 2023.