Also known as | Project Morpheus (code name) |
---|---|
Developer | Sony Interactive Entertainment |
Manufacturer | Sony |
Product family | PlayStation |
Type | Virtual reality headset |
Release date | October 13, 2016 |
Introductory price | |
Units sold | 915,000 (As of 19 February 2017[update]) |
Display | 5.7" OLED, 100° field of view. |
Graphics | 1080p RGB (960 × RGB × 1080 per eye; 90-120Hz refresh rate)" |
Sound | 3D audio through headphone jack, and available microphone input |
Input | Positional tracking with 9 LED's via PlayStation Camera |
Controller input |
|
Camera | PlayStation Camera |
Touchpad | None |
Weight | 610 grams |
Website | Official website |
PlayStation VR, known by the codename Project Morpheus during development, is a virtual reality head-mounted display developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, which launched on October 13, 2016.
It was designed to be fully functional with the PlayStation 4 home video game console. In certain games and demos for the VR, the player wearing the headset acts separately from other players without the headset. The PlayStation VR system can output a picture to both the PlayStation VR headset and a television simultaneously, with the television either mirroring the picture displayed on the headset, or displaying a separate image for competitive or cooperative gameplay. PlayStation VR works with either the standard DualShock 4 controller or the PlayStation Move controllers.
The PlayStation VR has a 5.7 inch OLED panel, with a display resolution of 1080p. The headset also has a processor box which enables the Social Screen video output to the television, as well as process the 3D audio effect, and uses a 3.5mm headphone jack. The headset also has nine positional LEDs on its surface for the PlayStation Camera to track 360 degree head movement.
As of February 19, 2017, PlayStation VR had sold 915,000 units.
Sony's interest in head-mounted technology dates back to the 1990s. Its first commercial unit, the Glasstron, was released in 1997. One application of this technology was in the game MechWarrior 2, which permitted users of the Glasstron or Virtual I/O's iGlasses to adopt a visual perspective from inside the cockpit of the craft, using their own eyes as visual and seeing the battlefield through their craft's own cockpit.
In early 2014, Sony Computer Entertainment research and development engineer Anton Mikhailov said his team had been working on Project Morpheus for more than three years. According to Mikhailov, the PlayStation 3 Move peripheral, itself revealed in June 2009, was designed with unspecified, future head-mounted technology in mind. "We specced it and built it to be a VR controller, even though VR wasn’t a commodity. As engineers, we just said it was the right thing to do. At the time, we didn't have a consumer-grade project that we could work on, but it was definitely designed with that vision in mind."Shuhei Yoshida, the president of Sony's worldwide studios, also said the project started as "grassroots" activity among engineers and programmers, which came into focus in 2010 once the Move controller had been released. Sony also went on record to say it is mandatory for all games to have no less than 60 frames per second at all times.