Last Thursday’s State Of Play event held a welcome surprise for PSVR owners: Hitman 3 is coming to the headset.
But, while IO Interactive’s announcement might seem simple enough on the surface, the wording around it creates an interesting situation.
Hitman 3 is coming to both PS4 and PS5 in January 2021 (and other platforms, but it looks like VR support is exclusive to PlayStation). But this week’s announcement didn’t specify if the game includes PSVR support on PS4, PS5 or both. In fact, this quote from the IO Interactive Communications Manager Travis Barbour on the PlayStation Blog, suggests it’s all a bit up in the air.
“We’re working to finalize the specifics for how PS VR owners can enjoy Hitman in VR,” the quote reads, “and we’ll have more details to share in the months ahead.”
We’ve reached out to IO to clarify exactly which platforms Hitman supports PSVR on. Speaking purely speculatively, we’d expect the PS4 version to of course include support, but it would be a truly bizarre situation if the PS5 version of the game then didn’t have any integration to speak of.
Here’s what we know so far about VR on PS5: the original headset supports the console. But, as far as we know, this is only to play backward-compatible PSVR games, not brand new PSVR titles. Sony this week confirmed that all your own PSVR controllers and peripherals will work with old PSVR games on PS5, but hasn’t said anything about new games.
If Hitman on PS5 does support PSVR, it makes the next-generation console’s impending launch much more exciting for VR fans. It means that we’ll be seeing new VR games with improved graphics and performance long before Sony releases any potential successor headset. Even though PSVR tech itself might be dated, the jump in computing power navigates one of the biggest hurdles that’s held some PSVR games back over the past four years. And it could open the door to more technically ambitious ports that are yet to reach the headset.
Again, that’s all speculation for now, but PS5’s holiday launch window is nearing and Sony is going to need to clear this up sooner or later. We’ve got our gloved fingers crossed, though, that Hitman’s PSVR support means more for the platform than we first realized.
