Apple is reportedly making good headway on its quest to bring controllers to Vision Pro, as Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman maintains a collaboration with Sony to bring support for PSVR 2’s controllers to Apple’s headset is still on track.
Gurman noted late last year that Apple had approached Sony in early 2024, which allegedly was a part of a “monthslong undertaking” to bring PSVR 2 controller support to Apple’s $3,500 XR headset. At the time, Apple was also reportedly in discussions with third-party developers to integrate controller support into their games.
“[A]ll signs point to this project still being in development,” Gurman writes in his recent ‘Power On’ newsletter, noting support could likely arrive in a software update later this year via visionOS 3.
Notably, Apple launched Vision Pro in February 2024 without the addition of controllers, relying instead on its integrated hand and eye-tracking capabilities—an extension of the headset’s ethos as a general computing platform over the sort of game console ambitions of devices like Meta Quest.
Choosing Sony as a partner makes a good deal of sense here, as the company has already cut PSVR 2 loose from its PS5 console ecosystem by offering support for PC VR games via a purchasable PC adapter, which some have seen as a sign of wavering commitment to invest in its latest VR headset. Additionally, the deal would allow Apple to offer a familiar controller standard for developers to target whilst not directly competing with Sony in the process.
Provided the report is true, supporting motion controllers marks a decisive shift by Apple to appeal to mainstream VR gamers—or at least what you’d come to expect from a modern XR headset. Even before Vision Pro launched, industry rumors alleged Apple wasn’t keen on making controllers or supporting third-party controllers either.
Still, that hasn’t stopped third-parties from doing the legwork themselves, Apple be damned. Most notable is Surreal Touch controllers, which raised $127,000 via Kickstarter, which critically don’t rely on Vision Pro’s tracking capabilities at all, instead using on-board cameras to track their position, similar to Meta’s Touch Pro controllers. To learn more, check out XR industry veteran Nima Zeighami’s early impressions of Surreal Touch.
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