Why nDreams hopes Synapse will be a "system seller" for PSVR2
Despite the high price tag, lack of new games, lack of backward compatibility, and only being available to order direct from one store, Sony has proven naysayers wrong when the company recently announced PlayStation VR2 had sold 600,000 units within six weeks of its launch in February 2023, surpassing sales of its predecessor by 8% in the same period.
While the criticism of few first-party titles, save Horizon Call of the Mountain, remains a sticking point, exclusives are nonetheless coming from third party developers, and Synapse may just be the shot in the arm it’s looking for when the cyberpunk telekinetic shooter launches on July 4.
Developed by nDreams, the studio’s decade-long expertise in VR certainly puts it in a solid position to make the best VR2 experience it can for Sony. “With PS5 doing so well, [Sony’s] first party studios have got to support PS5 a lot as well, so there's only so much attention they can divert away from that because that's still the biggest part of the business,” says nDreams CEO Patrick O'Luanaigh. “But everyone we see has a ton of enthusiasm for PSVR2, and I think it's growing even more as it comes out on sale through other stores.”
The UK-based developer and publisher is uniquely placed to understand the PlayStation brand, having already been a longstanding partner prior to the company’s pivot to PR when nDreams was the largest publisher on the short-lived but fondly remembered PlayStation Home, including successes like alternate reality game Xi. What’s more, head of nDreams Studio James Shepherd had himself previously worked at Sony since the PS1 era with credits including MediEvil 2 and entries in the Killzone series.
“It’s like coming home to the family,” says Shepherd. “It's every
Read more on gamedeveloper.com
