There’s a lot of shared problems to work out
Speaking to GamesBeat about Project Morpheus and virtual-reality gaming more generally, Sony’s Shuhei Yoshida had good things to say about Oculus VR. “When I look at VR, it’s still very early,” he said, drawing a comparison to the rise of real-time 3D rendering with the PS1. “It’s not even starting in a real way. When we launch Project Morpheus, or when they launch Oculus as a consumer product, I can see another 20 years of progress for all kinds of things.”
Yoshida went on to say that on a technical level, “At this stage, we’re helping each other and trying to find solutions to a lot of problems that we’re trying to solve.” In terms of creating awareness, Sony has kept Morpheus mostly behind the scenes while Oculus created a proof-of-concept that let people realize VR is attainable. “That awareness and outreach to developers are really helping us as we introduce the Project Morpheus dev kit,” Yoshida said.
With two main platforms — Morpheus for PS4, and the Rift for PC — and more on the way, there’s the added benefit of reduced risk for game developers looking to support VR. And that’s what it’ll take to make these devices compelling — good games, “wherever they can come from.” Probably from indies. Yoshida is less concerned with attracting “big brands and successful games” as those don’t “transfer well” without spending significant time to create a new VR experience.