Sony has a long-term vision and is ready to take advantage of VR

Even without the news that PS4 sales have exceeded 20 million, PS4 is still the fastest-selling console since the birth of the home game industry. At the same time, Sony Computer Entertainment also announced at the GDC2015 conference that its VR product code-named "Project Morpheus" will be launched in the first half of 2016, in conjunction with PS4's massive entry into the VR virtual reality game field.

    You don't need to upgrade your PS4

As we all know, the experience of using VR games depends largely on powerful hardware devices, especially after Sony set the goal of "Project Morpheus" to enable the game screen to reach a high frame rate of 60fps or even 120fps, the role of hardware has become more significant. For developers, the fixed hardware structure of home consoles can provide them with a clear standard, making it easier to grasp the player's experience without considering the complex and changeable configuration of PC consoles and various hardware conflicts. The benefits of fixed hardware have been reflected in the VR device "Gear VR" jointly launched by Samsung and Oculus. Many games have shown good results after being optimized by Gear VR, and the hardware supporting it is limited to Samsung GALAXY Note4 mobile phones. The biggest problem with devices such as Oculus Rift is that if the PC host used with it does not have a powerful enough graphics card and CPU, it is very likely that the ultimate effect promoted by the official will not be achieved in the end. Even if a local tyrant can easily find the most expensive accessories on the market to build a top-level PC, it still takes a lot of time to adjust various settings to get the best gaming experience. The PS4 may not be as powerful as a top-level PC, but that doesn't matter. How to squeeze every drop of power out of it to get the best picture is a question that game developers need to consider. All players have to do is buy "Project Morpheus" home and plug it into the PS4. It's that simple.

LED light: DualShock4's failure and foreshadowing

Traditional game operation methods, whether keyboard and mouse or handle, are considered unsuitable for use in the VR field. This forces software manufacturers to consider the adaptation issues of a wide variety of VR operating devices when making related products.

Sony seems to have laid the groundwork many years ago, and was even willing to take the risk of letting DS4 bear a lot of criticism. Now it seems that if "Project Morpheus" becomes the mainstream of VR games one day, Sony's forward-looking thinking will play a big role. One of the most criticized flaws of the PS4 controller DS4 is the "beautiful-looking" LED indicator. Not only does it seem redundant in the normal game composition of players, it is also accused of being the culprit for the DS4's excessive power consumption. But when DS4 is "combined" with the PS camera and VR headset, Nicolas Doucet, one of the leaders of "Project Morpheus", demonstrated the effect of this at the GDC2015 conference.

Although the program screen used in the demonstration is very rough, I believe that the game developers present will see the huge potential behind it. Like the PS4 console, you don’t need to make any changes to the DS4 controller. Serving Sony’s VR equipment is one of its functions. Sony’s solution first takes into account the game habits that players have formed over the years, and there is no need to adapt to too many additional operations or even new equipment. Secondly, every PS4 player will have at least one DS4 controller, which will not increase the additional cost except for the VR equipment. In addition, the entire set of equipment required is SCE’s own products, which have natural advantages in debugging and coordination.

  Sony can make developers money

SCE maintains a good cooperative relationship with many game developers, especially the independent game manufacturers that have gradually emerged in recent years. If you want to increase the popularity of "Project Morpheus", heavyweight game works are indispensable. With the huge and growing installed base of PS4 as support, players should see more blockbusters in the near future. There is no doubt about this. Another very interesting phenomenon is that many games suitable for VR devices come from passionate independent producers and small teams. This is also the confidence of Valve, which holds Steam, to develop VR devices. But even in the strengths of its opponents, Sony is not far behind.

Looking at the wide variety of independent games in the PSN store, SCE knows very well how to communicate with small manufacturers. Driven by the popularity of PS4 and the PS+ membership system, independent games have a higher exposure among TV game players than ever before, which will inevitably give emerging manufacturers a huge impetus to cooperate with Sony.

No worries about hardware development

Although Oculus acquired an industrial design team in 2014 to assist in the manufacturing and production of Rift, the only finished product they have made public so far, the "Gear VR", is a product of cooperation with Samsung. Another industry giant, Valve, although it is a big name in the PC software field, has to turn to Taiwanese electronics manufacturer HTC for the production of VR equipment. This makes it inevitable that their products will eventually be branded by other manufacturers. This is different from the "OEM production" that is very popular in the digital consumer field. Although Sony's PS4 is also manufactured by Foxconn, from the initial design to the birth of the prototype to the final product finalization, plus a whole set of links such as cost control and efficiency improvement, Sony has independently completed it with its own technical strength. The OEM factory is just copying the drawings and assembling the materials according to the drawings.

However, the VR devices of Oculus and Valve are still far from such mature mass production. The reason why they cooperate with other manufacturers is that they hope that the other party can provide opinions and suggestions in industrial manufacturing and design. In other words, they cannot successfully complete the entire process from R&D to production to market by themselves, which is why Valve's VR device is called "HTC Vive".

As for the "Morpheus Project", the controller is already on the shelf; the PS4 used as a console has sold more than 20 million sets; the motion sensing function of the PS camera is still a bit useless at the moment, but all aspects of the function are very mature and complete, and combined with VR equipment, the potential is unlimited; the purchase of games is extremely easy after connecting to PSN. More importantly, all of this is Sony's technology and experience, and no other manufacturers are involved. It gives people a feeling that everything is ready, only the east wind is missing.

    What are the best VR game options for civilian gamers?

Compared with Oculus and Valve's over-reliance on PC configuration, SCE's solution, which is based on PS4 and a mature TV game ecosystem, is obviously more likely to be favored by ordinary players. Perhaps it can be called a cheap version or entry-level VR device. Even if "Project Morpheus" cannot bring the ultimate picture presented by Rift or HTC Vive with a monster-level PC, it should be able to gain a good market response.

Since the concept of VR games was born, countless manufacturers have failed in their attempts to enter the field. Even Nintendo, which was at its peak, was not immune. Virtual Boy has been the company's most failed console for many years. At the turn of 2014 and 2015, the industry suddenly saw a climax in the development and release of VR equipment. In addition to rising stars such as Oculus, even giant manufacturers such as Samsung, Sony, Microsoft, and Apple have also come to participate. Looking at the wide variety of VR concepts and products, Sony's "Project Morpheus" is undoubtedly the most reasonable choice so far, at least for TV game players.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.