In the video game industry, 10 years may as well be a lifetime. Entire tech empires can rise and fall in that span given how quickly the medium tends to evolve. If you need a concrete example of that, look to the PlayStation VR, which launched on Oct. 13, 2016.
At the time, the bulky headset felt like a mainstream turning point for a niche corner of gaming that was still in its infancy. A decade later, the PSVR instead stands as a monument to a doomed trend that’s on the brink of extinction in 2026. While there was buzz about VR brewing in the mid-2010s, 2016 was the year that properly kicked off the trend.
It began when the Oculus Rift, a device considered to be the first consumer headset of the era, released in March. That was quickly followed up by the HTC Vive in April, starting a rat race in the headset market. While those devices were exciting, they weren’t entirely consumer-friendly, seeing as they required you to own a gaming PC rig capable of running them.
The PlayStation VR looked like the answer to that problem when it launched in October. So long as you owned a PlayStation 4, all you needed to do was plug it in to the headset. Okay, it was a little more complicated than that and required a mess of cables, but it was still an easy setup compared to its competitors.
It also looked more inviting; its white design came off as friendly and approachable next to its black rival headsets that looked like serious, complicated pieces of tech. Despite those strengths, it took a few years for the PSVR to really come into its own. Its launch game lineup wasn’t terribly memorable, with games like PlayStation VR Worlds and Batman: Arkham VR doing little to shake the feeling that VR games were glorified tech demos.
A few great games showcased the potential, including Ubisoft’s Eagle Flight and Rez Infinite, but PSVR really didn’t take off for another two years. 2018 was so significant for Sony’s headset that you could almost consider it a relaunch. Its game lineup got a huge infusion of new blood thanks to Tetris Effect, Moss, and Astro Bot: Rescue Mission. All three games were the bonafide killer apps that were needed to convince curious players to give it a shot.
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