Half-Life: Alyx could come to PSVR in the future; not in active development

When Half-Life: Alyx was announced back in November, some fans of the series wondered whether the Valve-developed VR title would make its way to the PSVR. As of now, Half-Life: Alyx has been announced for Windows only, although according to the game’s designer, Greg Coomer, Valve has “not ruled anything out,” when it comes to a PSVR release.

Half-Life: Alyx was officially announced on the 21st of November 2019, with a release date slated for March 2020. The game is a prequel, and is playable exclusively through VR. As of right now, the title has been confirmed to work with the Valve Index, HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, Oculus Quest, and Windows Mixed Reality headsets. While the number of headsets supported is generous, the game is currently exclusive to the Windows Platform.

PushSquare, a PlayStation-focused gaming website, asked Valve whether Half-Life: Alyx could ever come to PSVR – PlayStation’s VR platform. In response, the game’s Designer, Greg Coomer, stated that the “initial” release is “available for SteamVR only”. Coomer elaborated however on the fact that “we [Valve] believe Sony’s VR platform has been a huge success for the medium, and we assume that lots of Sony customers would love to experience this new chapter of Half-Life”.

With that in mind, Coomer claimed that a PSVR port of Half-Life: Alyx is currently not in active development due to being “very focused on the initial release” for SteamVR. That being said, according to Coomer, Valve has “not ruled anything out”.

Half-Life: Alyx releasing for PSVR would be an interesting move for the company, as the developer hasn’t released any titles on consoles since 2012. Furthermore, the PlayStation VR relies on outdated technology from the PS3 era for movement tracking. This differs from some of the PC’s headsets, which allow for room-scale VR and complete finger-tracking.

A port of Half-Life: Alyx for the current generation of PSVR could therefore suffer from a number of necessary compromises. With the PlayStation 5 on the horizon however, and Sony confirming its continued commitment to PSVR  – as Valve said – a port of Half-Life: Alyx for PlayStation VR isn’t out of the question.

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KitGuru says: What do you think of this news? Would you like to see Half-Life: Alyx come to PSVR? What other dormant franchise would you like to see Valve revive? Let us know down below.

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