Apple And Sony Have A Secret Plan To Boost Vision Pro's Gaming Chops
The two biggest criticisms surrounding Apple's Vision Pro headset are the cost of entry—at $3,499 for the base model and an optional $499 fee for an AppleCare+ plan, it's anything but cheap—and lack of interesting apps purpose built for the device, especially when it comes to gaming. Well, the current iteration of the Vision Pro isn't getting less expensive any time soon, but a secret collaboration with Sony could boost the headset's profile as a legitimate gaming platform.
In his latest PowerOn newsletter, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman claims Apple is engaging in a "major effort" to bring third-part controller support to visionOS, the operating system powering the Vision Pro, and has joined forces with Sony to make it happen sooner than later. How much sooner? According to the report, the plan was to have already announced support for Sony's PlayStation VR2 hand controllers by now, but it's been temporarily postponed while Sony figures out the logistics.
While it may sound like an incredibly easy thing to implement, the fact that Sony does not offer its PSVR2 controllers as a standalone purchase adds a slight wrinkle to the situation. Gurman points out that Sony need to decouple the controllers from its own PSVR2 headset and "kick off operations to produce and ship the accessory" by itself.
The good news is, it sounds more like a logistics challenge rather than anything associated on the software or functionality sides of the equation. Once that's been sorted out, the purported plan is to sell the controllers at Apple's online and brick-and-mortar stores.
Will this move the needle? From our vantage point, it's tough to imagine that adding support for PSVR2 controllers will suddenly see Apple's $3,499 headset flying off store shelves. There will remain the issue of cost. In a recent interview with Wired, Apple CEO Tim Cook touched on the topic of pricing and the resulting poor sales.
"It's an early adopter product, for people who want tomorrow's technology today," Cook explained. "Those people are buying it, and the ecosystem is flourishing. The ultimate test for us is the ecosystem."
Cook's carefully worded response is not unexpected, though to his point and Gurman's, supporting third-party controllers can only help the situation. Citing internal data, Gurman says Apple has sold less than 500,000 Vision Pro headsets to date, and "a large number" of owners "aren't using the product as much as Apple anticipated."
From his perspective, pivoting to promoting the Vision Pro more heavily as a gaming platform could help turn the tide. That requires developer support, and that's where the reported collaboration with Sony comes into play. It could also benefit use cases beyond gaming, like bringing Final Cut Pro and Adobe Photoshop into the fold, both of which really need some kind of hand controllers to really thrive in a VR landscape.
