Eye-tracking firm confirms Sony has licensed its tech for PSVR2

Sony has licensed eye-tracking technology for the PlayStation VR2 headset.

That’s according to manufacturer Tobii  – the self-proclaimed “global leader in eye-tracking and pioneer of attention computing” – which announced on Friday that its tech will be featured in the PlayStation 5 VR headset.

“PlayStation VR2 establishes a new baseline for immersive virtual reality (VR) entertainment and will enable millions of users across the world to experience the power of eye tracking,” said Anand Srivatsa, Tobii CEO, in a statement.

“Our partnership with Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) is continued validation of Tobii’s world-leading technology capabilities to deliver cutting-edge solutions at mass-market scale.”

The company will receive upfront revenue as a part of this deal starting in 2022, it said.

Tobii sells eye and head tracking cameras at an RRP of $230 / £230. The cameras use a custom infrared optical sensor to track users’ eye movements, with support in over 50 games including Far Cry 6 and Flight Simulator.

Supported games can then be controlled using eye movement for functions such as aiming and selecting items, with visuals even able to come in and out of focus based on where the player is looking.

Tobii also makes a PC application that tracks head movement only in compatible gaming laptops, allowing users to steer in-game cameras.

During its specs announcement earlier this year, Sony confirmed its intention to include eye-tracking in PSVR2 and even detailed what the feature would do.

“With eye-tracking, PS VR2 detects the motion of your eyes, so a simple look in a specific direction can create an additional input for the game character,” it said.

“This allows players to interact more intuitively in new and lifelike ways, allowing for a heightened emotional response and enhanced expression that provide a new level of realism in gaming.”

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SIE also confirmed the new headset will support Foveated rendering, which is a rendering technique that uses an eye tracker to essentially improve the graphical quality of VR software, by reducing the image quality in the peripheral vision of the user.

The new headset still does not have an official release window, but Sony recently claimed that it will have more than 20 games ready for the launch of PlayStation VR 2.