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Jim Ryan: "We're more than a few minutes from the future of VR"

PlayStation's CEO said VR will not be "meaningful component of interactive entertainment" until at least 2022

Virtual reality's big breakthrough might not happen for a while, according to Sony.

During an interview with the Washington Post, PlayStation's CEO Jim Ryan said it could be a couple of years before VR actually takes off.

"I think we're more than a few minutes from the future of VR," he said. "PlayStation believes in VR. Sony believes in VR, and we definitely believe at some point in the future, VR will represent a meaningful component of interactive entertainment. Will it be this year? No. Will it be next year? No. But will it come at some stage? We believe that. And we're very pleased with all the experience that we've gained with PlayStation VR, and we look forward to seeing where that takes us in the future."

The PS5 is not compatible with PSVR out of the box, with Sony handing out free adapters for players to be able to use their headset with the upcoming console. The platform holder still supports the headset though, with Hitman 3 coming to PSVR for instance.

But Sony will mainly be focusing on narrative-driven titles, Ryan continued.

"Narrative driven gaming experiences have always been kind of a unique strength of PlayStation so there's this kind of synergy between technical progress and our capabilities to tell stories. That's a trend that will only continue, and another reason it will continue is every time our studios do this, they get better at it."

While Ryan described the Zenimax acquisition by Microsoft as a "logical step for [Xbox] to follow," Sony's strategy lies in "steady, thoughtful, constant organic growth and investment in the studios," rather than major acquisitions, he added.

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Marie Dealessandri

Deputy Editor

Marie Dealessandri joined GamesIndustry.biz in 2019 to head its Academy section. A journalist since 2012, she started in games in 2016 at B2B magazine MCV. She can be found (rarely) tweeting @mariedeal, usually on a loop about Baldur’s Gate and the Dead Cells soundtrack. GI resident Moomins expert.