Sony sells hundreds of VR patents to Meta

Sony has recently sold 419 patents related to virtual reality and extended reality to Meta, according to a report from ZDNet Korea. Among these 419 patents were 43 that were filed in the United States, and they included patents for head-mounted displays. This sale comes just three and a half years after the launch of PlayStation VR 2, which has been difficult to find in stock due to product shortages.

This move by Sony suggests that the company is not particularly interested in producing another headset in the near future. However, it is important to note that PSVR2 has not been officially discontinued, even if it has been hard to come by recently. This sale of patents to Meta is not surprising, considering the difficulties Sony faced with the high-end console VR experience.

While PSVR2 was praised for its hardware when it launched in 2023, it struggled with a lack of software support, making it feel like a dead platform. On the other hand, Meta's acquisition of these patents is intriguing, given the company's recent struggles with VR. In March, Meta laid off over 1,000 employees from its Reality Labs division and discontinued the VR portion of its Horizon Worlds app.

However, the company recently announced VR glasses, a new product category. This development suggests that Mark Zuckerberg's VR ambitions have not disappeared just yet, making this latest sale of patents another indication of Meta's continued interest in the technology.