Bad graphics, clunky mechanics, and game breaking bugs.

These are just a few of the things that people buying virtual reality (VR) games experience, after shelling out their hard-earned cash.

The PlayStation VR2 (PSVR2), now just north of its one-year birthday, has been plagued by issues within game releases the most. In fact, with more than 100 games released thus far, the majority of those could see their success rated anywhere from middling to an outright disaster.

So why then are there too few games released on the PlayStation flagship headset, that can be considered a homerun?

While many of the people who make up the PSVR2 fanbase would complain that there are too few exclusives, the simple fact is that the VR industry is too small overall.

Gaming as a whole is a multi-billion dollar industry, with PlayStation and Nintendo leading the way. However, even the best-selling Nintendo Switch and its attempt at VR was a catastrophic failure.

Sony, with it’s 50-million PS5 units sold, have been selling their consoles at a premium price – currently sitting at $649. The issue then becomes the price jump, which for consumers is $250 more than the PS4 base cost from a decade ago.

Now, add onto that the at minimum, $749 for the PSVR2, and you’re spending well beyond $1,500 after tax to adopt console VR.

Recent reports from Sony show that the headset has sold at least 1-million units, this would mean that two per cent of those with a PS5 have chosen to adopt this still not quite proven part of the industry.

The Meta Quest 3 series of headsets are faring much better, having sold an estimated 1.5-million units since it’s launch in the fall of 2023 – a full eight months after the PSVR2. Couple these figures with the 18-million units of the Quest 2, and their market share of the VR industry overshadows that of PlayStation, in a monumental way.

However, despite the latter headset having higher sales figures, the industry is still not where it needs to be for more developers to jump on board with creating quality titles.

Now, let’s talk about some of the games which have been released – and the quality of their launch state.

As mentioned earlier, the PSVR2 has more than 100 games on the store for purchase, with many more on the way.

While there have been some hits – Synapse, Resident Evil Village, Red Matter 2, and of course Walkabout Mini Golf, to name a few – there have been far more games that have left a sour taste in the mouth of gamers.

Whether it’s guilty of being a disgustingly lazy port – Hellsweeper VR, Arashi: Castles of Sin – launched in a state where there are game breaking bugs – The Foglands, Vertigo 2, The 7th Guest – or simply made poorly and missing even the simplest of mechanics like smooth turning – Hello Neighbor: Search & Rescue, Happyfunland – there has been no shortage of problems to count.

What’s worse is that quite a few games mentioned above were delayed well past their original launch dates, and still came out with issues that would infuriate one enough to slap the first person they see.

Of course, the majority of those games have been out a few months – the most recent release being Happyfunland – which means there has been plenty of time for the developers of each to fix some, if not all, of the launch issues.

The problem is that a good amount of them have not.

Arashi is still a disgusting mess. Yes, the broken movement mechanics have somewhat been fixed, and it’s a little less ugly than it was upon launch. But, the graphics look like they were improved only slightly, and the game does nothing to take advantage of haptics and adaptive triggers, proving the developers were just lazy in their work.

The Foglands is probably never going to be able to make up for the flogging it took after the crappy launch it had. This disaster was advertised early into the release of the PSVR2, as an exciting western themed dungeon crawler, and there were high hopes surrounding it’s launch.

When it finally came out in time for Halloween 2023, the game was an instant flop.

Nearly 100 per cent of people who played this game hated it for everything except the atmosphere. While the developers have worked hard to fix it, there’s still too many game breaking bugs to make it worth playing, even if it was free.

While there are so many bad games, the VR industry has seen some pretty big hits. Of course, PlayStation users familiar with the first headset would know this better.

So, then the question needs to be asked: what can be done?

Was failing to implement backwards compatibility the shortfall of the PSVR2, or can we look to those who create the games and blame publishers who seem to care more about their money.

It’s not enough to release a game in a messy state, hoping that people who shell out anywhere from $20 to $70, are happy to play through a game in a flimsy or broken state, only to happily come back months later for the proper experience.

In fact, this disastrous release method is not only plaguing many VR games, it’s pushing customers away.

While some people can be more forgiving, there are many more who see tactics like this as a slap in the face.

It’s no wonder developers are firing people in masses and shutting down. When a developer puts out a dumpster fire of a game, they shouldn’t be creating.

Let’s hope some get it together before its too late.