First Look At NEW PlayStation VR Orb Controllers With Adaptive Triggers And Haptic Feedback

Following their recent reveal on February 23rd, 2021 regarding the future of the platform, Hideaki Nishino, Senior Vice President, Platform Planning & Management took to the PlayStation Blog on March 18th, 2021 to unveil some new details and information regarding the next iteration of the PlayStation VR controller that will play a critical role in providing players with a stronger and more immersive experience. Nishino says that the controller speaks to Sony’s mission of achieving a much deeper sense of presence and will build upon the innovations that were introduced with the DualSense wireless controller that was released in November 2020 with PlayStation 5 consoles.

The first thing that experienced PlayStation VR players will notice is the unique “orb” shape design of the controller compared to that of the PlayStation Move Motion Controller which will allow them to fit more comfortably in the hands of players – no constraints in movement – and offer an even greater degree of freedom during gameplay. Ergonomics have also been taken into consideration with each controller being well-balanced in weight and will seemingly be suited for a wide range of hand sizes; Sony thoroughly tested their designs and applied feedback from past generations of PlayStation controllers.

The NEW PlayStation VR “orb” controller will provide players with a more visceral way to interact with their favourite games and utilizes several key features from the DualSense controller including Adaptive Triggers which adds palpable tension when pressed – drawing a bow to fire an arrow at a charging enemy – as well as Haptic Feedback which provides more realistic feedback to players when interacting with objects and environments rather than a single forceful rumble for everything; hitting a beach ball is significantly lighter than a falling boulder striking the ground.

Nishino briefly mentions that Finger Touch Detection will be prominent and can detect fingers without needing to press any sort of button where players will place their thumbs and fingers which will allow for more natural hand gestures during gameplay. Tracking with the NEW VR headset will be achieved through a tracking ring on the bottom of the controllers.

Action Buttons & Analogue Sticks

Left PlayStation VR Orb Controller:

• Left analog stick
• Triangle button
• Square button
• “Grip” button (L1) – used to pick up in-game objects
• Trigger button (L2)
• Create button

Right PlayStation VR Orb Controller:

• Right analog stick
• Cross or “X” Button
• Circle button
• “Grip” button (R1) – used to pick up in-game objects
• Trigger button (R2)
• Options button

Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) has collaborated with their Product, Engineering, and Design teams and have been working diligently to build a quality controller from the ground up that will be a major step forward in virtual reality gaming. And while there is still no word on when players will be able to get their hands on this new hardware, prototypes will soon be sent out to development studios with more information coming down the road.

PlayStation VR is available now exclusively for both PlayStation 4 Pro and PlayStation 4 and is compatible on PlayStation 5 with supported titles.