In this year’s GDC State of the Industry report — a broad and far-reaching survey of game developers across all disciplines within the industry — respondents were asked to detail their current and near-future plans for their cross-platform software. This of course includes VR and AR developers, who seem to largely coalesce around Meta Quest and Steam VR as major landing zones for these technologies. This in itself is not surprising, as these two platforms also dominated the VR/AR list for 2024.
However, one notable change in dynamics was the flip between the PlayStation VR ecosystem – including both the original headset compatible with PlayStation 4 and its successor PlayStation 5 – and Apple’s VisionOS system – used exclusively for Apple’s Vision Pro headset. While last year PlayStation headsets outperformed the Vision Pro by 15% to 13%, in 2025, 26% of respondents said they are working on Apple’s VisionOS software while 25% are making efforts on PlayStation VR/VR2.
This is especially strange given that the PlayStation VR2 is a gaming-focused headset, serving essentially no purpose other than playing VR games, while the Apple Vision Pro is positioned as a multi-functional productivity device. Apple’s website for the headphones doesn’t mention gaming until halfway through the page. This isn’t surprising, given that at $3,500, it’s definitely the less mainstream device. The PlayStation VR2 is struggling in the market for various reasons, led by a former PlayStation executive To say he was “wrong” About the potential success of the device recently.
It seems unlikely that any VR device will be able to claim market share from Meta devices anytime soon, as the VR headset remains the standout due in large part to its cheaper, subsidized price and unencumbered format. The battle for mindshare among VR developers appears to be on the wane for PlayStation unless something big happens that revitalizes their VR brand in 2025.