Sony's Next-Gen 8K VR Hardware Could Help Reduce Motion Sickness Significantly

Sony held an online event called Sony Technology Day this week, in which the company revealed some of its new cutting-edge technology that is in development. One of the presentations showed off a prototype for a new virtual reality headset, which uses two small 4K displays to create an 8K viewing experience. It's still in the very early stages of development, but Sony's goal is for the VR headset to create more life-like and detailed images using a low-latency head-mounted display and OLED microdisplays.

"This is a virtual reality head-mounted display that projects a high-definition 3D space and achieves a high-resolution of 4K with one eye and 8K with both eyes," Sony explained in a highlight video. "High image quality is achieved through multi-pixel and miniaturization using fine processing and advanced packaging technology cultivated through the development and manufacture of CMOS image sensors, and Organic Light Emitting Diode microdisplay using device and circuit technology cultivated through the development of displays. The processing time is reduced by decreasing the amount of latency throughout the entire system thanks to the integration of data from multiple sensors. The person watching in VR can experience high-definition images in real-time according to the movement of his/her head."

Ideally, this would mean that motion sickness would affect fewer people, allowing for more people to use the technology. Beyond its application in music, gaming, and movies, Sony also sees potential for the hardware in the fields of medical training and industrial work.

While this headset is likely a few years away if Sony decides to pull the trigger on mass market production, the company does have PSVR 2.0 coming in the near future to PS5. The next-gen successor to PlayStation Virtual Reality, this new hardware ditches the PS Move controllers of the past for a new pair of tracking controllers that take a few design cues from the PS5's DualSense controller and peripherals from competing systems like Oculus Quest and Valve Index.

Sony has yet to reveal the form factor, price, or even the release date of the PSVR 2.0 headset itself, but we do know that it uses a single cord and will apparently provide a dramatic leap in performance and interactivity according to the company.