Apple and Sony Reportedly Teaming Up For Vision Pro Controllers

Key Takeaways

• Apple and Sony are collaborating to enable support for PSVR2 controllers on Vision Pro.
• Sony may need to develop standalone PSVR2 controllers if the partnership proceeds.
• Apple aims to enhance gaming on Vision Pro while considering compatibility with visionOS.

Here’s something interesting for the weekend: a new report states that iPhone maker Apple and Sony are working together to support third-party hand controllers for the Vision Pro.

The latest report comes from Bloomberg, who is generally reliable with these sort of claims, and it mentions that Apple approached Sony about this idea earlier this year,

Apple Wants PSVR2 Controllers Working On Vision Pro

The report claims that both parties agreed to work together on launching support for the PlayStation VR2’s hand controllers on Apple’s Vision Pro. The work on this has been going on for months now, and Apple is also said to have discussed this with third-party developers and whether they’d integrate PSVR2 controller support for their titles.

While in no way official, it’s said the two companies originally planned to announce this partnership and controller functionality weeks ago, but it was postponed for some unknown reason. An announcement is still expected to happen at some point unless the joint work has been scrapped entirely.

One major hurdle to this plan is that Sony currently doesn’t sell its PSVR2 controllers separately without the headset. If this were to happen, Sony would need to develop standalone PSVR2 controllers. This means that Sony needs to produce an entirely new line without the headset, with the report stating that even logistics will fall on Sony’s end. As part of the agreement, it’s said that Sony would sell the controllers at Apple’s online and retail stores.

Apple, which isn’t known for being friendly with other companies, is pushing for this functionality for games on the Vision Pro, though it’s mentioned that companies also created support for navigating the device’s visionOS operating system using the controller.

Bear in mind that this is still a rumor, and nothing has been announced so far, so don’t get too excited just yet.

If this comes to fruition, could this be the start of Sony partnering with Apple on other gaming products as well? Perhaps PlayStation integration or an Apple-PlayStation portable gaming device? My mind is boggled at the possibilities.

The PlayStation VR2 was released in February 2023, and since then, Sony hasn’t shown it off as often as before. A report last yearmentioned how PSVR2 production has slowed down due to unsatisfactory pre-order numbers.