SONY's new patent adds features like eye tracking to PS VR2 in non-VR games

According to a new patent filed by SONY, the company may apply PS VR2 features such as eye tracking to non-VR games.

If these features are implemented, PS VR2 players will enjoy a better gaming experience across multiple games on the PlayStation 5.

SONY launched the PS VR2 headset on February 22, which supports a number of native VR games, including Horizon: Call of the Mountain, Gran Turismo 7, and Dyschronia: Chronos Alternate.

Early reports indicate poor sales of the PS VR2, and low inventory at retailers appears to be a contributing factor. SONY restocked the PS VR2 at retailers in the weeks and months after the headset's launch, and claimed that sales of the headset exceeded expectations. Despite the current lack of new PS VR2 games developed by first-party studios, SONY seems to be preparing a major update.

SONY may be planning to apply eye tracking and other PS VR2 features to non-VR games to improve gaming performance when using the headset, according to a newly filed patent. The patent details a system that focuses and renders the area the player is looking at at a higher resolution, called the Line-of-sight area (ROG). This process is already supported in native PS VR2 games, such as Horizon: Call of the Mountain, but the patent notes that it could also be applied to non-VR games to improve frame rates at high resolutions. In addition, PlayStation 5 games may be "patched, upgraded, or reworked" to support eye tracking and VR, according to SONY's patent.

This feature introduced by the patent would allow the PlayStation 5 console to allocate less processing power to areas outside the PS VR2 user's ROG, and as processing power is shifted to the ROG, players may enjoy a smoother gaming experience due to higher frame rates. Also, in cinematic action games, such as God of War from SONY's Santa Monica Studio, graphical details in the ROG will be improved for a sharper picture.

It's important to point out that the patent doesn't mean SONY will definitely ship this feature.