PSVR 2 design to eliminate foggy lenses — how Sony is tackling the most annoying VR headset issue

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PSVR 2 appeals to VR users who are tired of playing in saunas

PSVR 2
PSVR 2 (Image credit: Sony)

Sony revealed its futuristic, black-and-white headset design for the upcoming PlayStation VR2 on Tuesday, but let's talk about how it could potentially obliterate its rivals by eliminating the most annoying VR headset issue of all time: foggy lenses.

The Oculus Quest 2's lenses, for example, fog up like a sauna when warm, humid exhalation hits the cool lenses, causing a vision-impairing disaster for many VR gamers. Fortunately, PlayStation says its new headset design could potentially solve this frustrating problem.

How PSVR 2 addresses the foggy lenses issue

The VR community offers many anti-fog solutions, including using a hairdryer on the headset to increase its temperature to prevent condensation during active VR sessions. Others suggest applying an anti-fog coating.

PSVR 2

PSVR 2 (Image credit: Future)

Fortunately, Sony designed its new PSVR 2 headset to let users jump into gameplay without worrying about anti-fog solutions. Sony Senior Art Director Yujin Morisawa, leader of PSVR 2's design team, said a vent was placed inside the head-mounted display to fend off the dreaded foggy lenses issue.

"Our engineers came up with this idea as a good way to allow ventilation and avoid having the lens fog up while players are immersed in their VR games," Morisawa said in a recent post for PlayStation Blog. The vent, located in a tiny space between the top and front surface of the scope, reportedly increases airflow inside the headset to forestall irksome, misty water droplets from collecting on top of the goggles.

Morisawa insinuated that the engineering team tested this new vent-equipped headset design with a focus group and received positive feedback. "I hope our PlayStation fans will also agree [with the positive feedback], and I can't wait for them to try it out," Morisawa said.

Meta, HTC and Valve better watch out! PSVR 2 is poised to launch with a slew of eye-catching features, including breathtaking visual fidelity in 4K HDR, top-of-the-line graphical rendering, upgraded tracking (e.g., inside-out camera tracking), and a new controller that adds a whole new level of immersion.

Kimberly Gedeon
Kimberly Gedeon

Kimberly Gedeon, holding a Master's degree in International Journalism, launched her career as a journalist for MadameNoire's business beat in 2013. She loved translating stuffy stories about the economy, personal finance and investing into digestible, easy-to-understand, entertaining stories for young women of color. During her time on the business beat, she discovered her passion for tech as she dove into articles about tech entrepreneurship, the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) and the latest tablets. After eight years of freelancing, dabbling in a myriad of beats, she's finally found a home at Laptop Mag that accepts her as the crypto-addicted, virtual reality-loving, investing-focused, tech-fascinated nerd she is. Woot!