Leaks and patents have strongly hinted that Sony’s PS5 may be accompanied by an improved PSVR 2 headset, either at launch or later - and a new patent just made public suggest it could track eye movement and head motion.
What will that do for VR? According to one Sony Interactive Entertainment patent (image above), it will enhance immersion by refining what each eye sees - aka ‘parallax images’ - for improved stereoscopic depth. Sony is also developing tech to keep those images relative when you rotate/tilt your head.
But there are other possibilities for eye-tracking in VR, including alternative control methods and/or interface options - which would be a great accessibility option for disabled gamers.
Eye-tracking: not just in PSVR?
VR isn’t the only place Sony is investigating eye-tracking.
Another patent lays out the specifics of an eye-tracking device that could be a plain camera - but given that the context of the patent is about “methods for returning accurate and relevant search results on an online platform,” it’s possible that the company could be working on a greater eye-tracking interface strategy among its other hardware.
Like, say, a PlayStation Move successor? Per the patent: “A range camera may instead be used with the present invention to capture gestures made by the user and is capable of facial recognition.”
And those applications could go beyond console peripherals: the connecting device could be “a general-purpose computer, a set-top box, or a hand-held gaming device.”
Of course, these are just patented concepts that may take years to implement into future devices like the next PSVR - if they're implemented at all.
- Via Inverse
- What else is coming in the PSVR 2? Here's all we know
