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MediaTek makes surprise announcement at showcase: they partnered with Sony and their chips will power PSVR 2 (custom SoCs)

It has been revealed that the PlayStation VR2 will use custom SoCs’ (system-on-chip) created by MediaTek. In case you didn’t know, MediaTek is currently holding its annual summit. While the company is prominently known for being a supplier of chips in the field of television, cell phones, and other small electronics, they made a somewhat surprising reveal during their showcase, announcing that they will be the official partner of Sony for the PSVR2 headset.

Unfortunately, the company didn’t go into further details outside the partnership announcement and the custom-made SoC for the PSVR2.

...

There is a ton to look forward to from MediaTek in the coming years, but for PlayStation fans, this news should be a welcomed one as their chipsets have so far been impressive.

As for the PSVR2 itself, it’s set to launch in February next year, and will cost more than a PS5, sadly. Here are some of the games confirmed to be on the way for the device.

I'm not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing, because we have known about PSVR for a long time, and they nor Sony came out about the MediaTek having chips powering PSVR2. But MediaTek (not Sony) themselves announce this randomly at a conference?

Uh, surprise?
 

feynoob

Banned
Good for Sony.
Much better, since you have now a reliable provider.

Hope they print out psvr2 for vr fans.

I want this tech to kick fast.
 

Alexios

Cores, shaders and BIOS oh my!
Doesn't matter, probably some low power soc to facilitate the tracking and other such processing, similar to each self tracked Quest Pro controller's full snapdragon 662, as it's not an all in one stand alone VR kit that needs a better soc (like XR2+) to power games. Hence nothing to mention or hype.
 
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Gamerguy84

Member
I feel like this was discussed a while back, or that i heard this.

Anyway they are obviously capable of delivering and their chip is probably in the handful of people who have working prototypes.

Sign me up day 1.
 

01011001

Banned
so that will do the motion interpolation and tracking I guess?

not much than can go wrong so doesn't really matter which chip they use as long as it has enough compute power to do these relatively simple tasks
 

//DEVIL//

Member
Ew.. MediaTek, hopefully it will be good on PSVR2, because on other devices they sure aren't.
exactly my thoughts. their processors are weak. and usually, they are in low to mid-range phone max because of that. I guess Sony cheapened on getting at least a mid-range processor from the snapdragon team... but then again it really comes down to what functions this chipset will be doing. if it's going to play games on it, then lol no DOA. but if it's just for navigation/browser etc, eh wIll not matter much.
 

Topher

Gold Member
exactly my thoughts. their processors are weak. and usually, they are in low to mid-range phone max because of that. I guess Sony cheapened on getting at least a mid-range processor from the snapdragon team... but then again it really comes down to what functions this chipset will be doing. if it's going to play games on it, then lol no DOA. but if it's just for navigation/browser etc, eh wIll not matter much.

I'd say this chip isn't doing anything other than handling whatever functions are on the headset, but the games will be running off of PS5.
 

Ozriel

M$FT
exactly my thoughts. their processors are weak. and usually, they are in low to mid-range phone max because of that. I guess Sony cheapened on getting at least a mid-range processor from the snapdragon team... but then again it really comes down to what functions this chipset will be doing. if it's going to play games on it, then lol no DOA. but if it's just for navigation/browser etc, eh wIll not matter much.

I’m not sure when last you looked at anything MediaTek, but they certainly have high end chipsets out these days. The days of MTK being only low end stuff are long over

For something as low power as a controller, they’re perfect

Why would you imagine they’d be used for playing games? seriously?
 
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//DEVIL//

Member
I'd say this chip isn't doing anything other than handling whatever functions are on the headset, but the games will be running off of PS5.
Maybe. I am not sure how heavy tasking is head tracking/eye tracking/controller tracking on the processor + whatever UI Sony puts as an OS in the PSVR2. But Sony has a good track record in simple and responsive OS ever since the PS4. I am not worried. cheap/weak processor? yeah but I trust the sony engineering team in this regard ( still not buying it for that price lol)

I’m not sure when last you looked at anything MediaTek, but they certainly have high end chipsets out these days. The days of MTK being only low end stuff are long over

For something as low power as a controller, they’re perfect

Why would you imagine they’d be used for playing games? seriously?

This is new to me. I have been with iPhone for so long that I stopped following the other side of processors. but Mediatek is a company I would rather avoid. I mean, if they were high end how come Samsung / Sony /google / etc on their high-end phones? because they are not high-end chipsets.

I also do not expect a high-end mobile chipset here. for cost reasons of course. As I said, I trust the sony engineering team.
 
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Alexios

Cores, shaders and BIOS oh my!
Maybe. I am not sure how heavy tasking is head tracking/eye tracking/controller tracking on the processor + whatever UI Sony puts as an OS in the PSVR2.
Why would any UI not run off the PS5 it will be connected to? Do you expect a whole different range of services like a separate store or something? Or just to have it display something when the PS5 is off? Seems like the only thing to display would be "Please turn on your PS5". Or remain off itself.

Same as using VR on PC (maybe with some adjusted "big picture" type mode). At least I don't think they're gonna come out and go all, surprise, it runs high end AAA PS5 VR games but it also runs stand alone mobile VR games like a Quest! Booya! But it still needs to be plugged in for power, lol.
 
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lh032

I cry about Xbox and hate PlayStation.
the-room-chip.gif
 

midnightAI

Member
Why do people care what chip runs the hardware inside the headset? (display, cameras and tracking) the PS5 does all the main processing
 

Neo_GAF

Banned
i dunno, but mediatek is known for middle-class-SoCs, right?
the best in the race is qualcomm.
is this a good or a bad thing?

can someone with more knowledge elaborate to this?
 

Drew1440

Member
Mediatek makes a wide range of processors targeting different segments, and Sony have used them extensively in their low to mid range Xperia phones, and their Bravia and Bluray players solely use Mediatek.
For high end smartphones Qualcomm is preferred as they integrate the modem into the SoC itself, allowing for their flagship handsets to consume less power and saves space, needed for 5G handsets.
 
The PSVR2 isn't a standalone HMD that has it's own processor to natively run games off of, like the Oculus Quest. It offloads all processing to the PS5's SoC and needs it to run most functions. They're not gonna suddenly run ARM64 native code for their VR games and switch back to x86 for their native console games.

However, this might be a low powered SoC that runs some HMD specific functions like inside-out and 6 DoF tracking.

Also, I've been seeing some posts here in this thread (generally techspeak online too) about scoffing, outright dismissing and even insulting MediaTek SoC's. Even as an enthusiast chipmaker, MediaTek are by no means lacking to the big boys like Samsung / Qualcomm / Apple. Sure, the Bionic line of SoC's from Apple are still the most fastest in the mobile space. But MediaTek are not in a corner where they're getting stomped. They're trading blows with some of the high end chips every year from Qualcomm and Samsung. This isn't the 2000's, folks.
 
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Kadve

Member
I have always wanted Mediatek to be better. They're pretty much the only (non manufacturer exclusive) competitor Qualcomm has nowadays.

Or have their software support gotten better nowadays?
 
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Silver Wattle

Gold Member
MediaTek have massively stepped up their flagship class SoC's in the last year or so, this is likely a good thing for Sony, considering how easy it would be for them to use the much less know chipmakers.
Having said that, the psvr2 is way overpriced so idgaf about what chips they use.
 

VN1X

Banned
Would've been better if it was manufactured by Microsoft. They make very sturdy products.

My Zune still works for example.
 

//DEVIL//

Member
Why would any UI not run off the PS5 it will be connected to? Do you expect a whole different range of services like a separate store or something? Or just to have it display something when the PS5 is off? Seems like the only thing to display would be "Please turn on your PS5". Or remain off itself.

Same as using VR on PC (maybe with some adjusted "big picture" type mode). At least I don't think they're gonna come out and go all, surprise, it runs high end AAA PS5 VR games but it also runs stand alone mobile VR games like a Quest! Booya! But it still needs to be plugged in for power, lol.
You said it . Big picture type thing . It’s a hardware and it should have its own UI for certain things . Even the old steam headset does have its own VR OS in it . It’s kinda normal
 

midnightAI

Member
You said it . Big picture type thing . It’s a hardware and it should have its own UI for certain things . Even the old steam headset does have its own VR OS in it . It’s kinda normal
Unlikely, the UI will come from the PS5 OS, there is no need to do it any other way as the power and data (including display data obviously) go down the same cable.
 
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