New PSVR Headset Rumored to Release After PlayStation 5

Talks of Sony releasing a new, updated version of its PlayStation VR headset have once again surfaced online recently. This time, the suggestion that the PSVR will indeed undergo an upgrade in the future comes from a Bloomberg report which claimed to contain info about the PlayStation 5's production woes and how much the console might end up costing Sony and buyers. Bloomberg suggested Sony is indeed planning on releasing a new version of the PSVR headset, though the tentative schedule would supposedly have it release after the PlayStation 5.

Bloomberg's insights into Sony's PlayStation plans were almost totally focused on the PlayStation 5, but there was at least one line referencing the potential plans for the PSVR's future. The report said "Sony plans to release a new version of the PlayStation VR virtual-reality headset, tentatively scheduled after the PlayStation 5 goes on sale." Unnamed people said to be familiar with Sony's operations were cited in the report.

This new info is far from the first time that an updated version of the PSVR has been talked about. Patents submitted by Sony have included numerous references to different types of headsets, some of which didn't have any wires attached to the devices. This alone would be a significant change from the current PSVR headset, though without Sony having said anything about its plans, it's unclear exactly how different the next PSVR headset might be and what features it would boast.

Other companies have also suggested that Sony would have a new PSVR headset releasing sometime around the launch of the PlayStation 5. Immersive VR Education, a company known for creating different virtual reality experiences, previously said Sony would be releasing a new PSVR headset in 2020.

Sony is the only one of the three major console creators that's been pushing virtual reality games, and while there's no reason to imagine that'd stop with the PlayStation 5, Sony has previously suggested that it wouldn't make sense for an updated headset to release immediately alongside the next console.

"There's no reason for us to coincide it with a new console," Sony's global head of R&D for PlayStation, Dominic Mallinson, told CNET. "From the point of view of the consumer, to be bombarded with many many things -- oh, you have to buy this, you have to buy that -- is a message that we don't want to send. In some ways, it's good to have a little breathing space between those things."

Sony's PlayStation 5 is expected to release during the holidays for an unknown price.