Apple Vision Pro to support Sony's VR controller in future

Apple and Sony could join forces to make the Vision Pro more attractive for gaming. The AR headset is set to support Playstation VR2 controllers in the future. This is reported by Mark Gurman from "Bloomberg". The two companies reportedly reached an agreement at the beginning of the year. Apple then approached developers to discuss the implementation of the controllers.

The normal gesture control of the Vision Pro is too imprecise and does not offer enough options for games. Apple already supports the Playstation 5 and Xbox controllers. But neither are designed for VR games. As a result, almost nobody is developing games for Apple's headset. This is despite the fact that the M2 chip, the high-resolution displays and the advanced sensors would offer good prerequisites.

Gaming could increase demand

Instead, the 3500 US dollar Vision Pro has so far mainly been used for media consumption and remains a niche product. According to Bloomberg, less than half a million units have been sold since February. Apple is therefore rumoured to be planning to stop production soon. Meta's popular Quest 2 headset is estimated to have sold over 20 million units. No figures are yet available for Quest 3.

Mark Gurman writes that gaming could help make the Vision Pro attractive to a wider audience. Apple apparently didn't incentivise developers enough at the market launch - in particular, the Californians didn't pay studios to produce content. Instead, Apple relied on studios to develop programmes and games for the new platform on their own.

The planned support for third-party controllers could be a sign that this is about to change. However, Sony must first make its VR controllers available as a standalone product. So far, they are only available in combination with the Japanese manufacturer's own headset.