Just yesterday, news spread that any game coming to PlayStation VR would support the PS4’s DualShock controller. This meant that even if a game was intended for use with PlayStation Move controllers or the new Aim Controller, you wouldn’t need any of those additional equipment to enjoy them. While ‘good for the consumers,’ the news never made much sense to me as it would be a limit on what developers could do. What if they’d created a medieval type game where one Move controller acted as your shield and the other as your sword? Now you’d also have to dumb down that experience to fit the DualShock 4 – in turn shifting how the game would play and feel.

As it turns out, that’s not the case after all.

 Nearly all PlayStation VR titles will support DualShock 4 controllers, and several games will deliver an enhanced experience that further immerses gamers with the use of peripherals such as Move or the recently announced Aim controller. There will be a limited number of titles that require Move controllers. 

This frankly makes a lot of sense to me. As long as it’s clear what the game requires, it should be up to the developers to design their game as they see fit. If they feel their game requires 4 Move controllers and 2 Aim controllers, that’s their prerogative they they’ll obviously miss out on the larger market as most people won’t have all those accessories.

The new Apple TV with Siri recently faced a similar obstacle as all games for it required support for the new Siri Remote. Apple’s thought process was to protect consumers who might accidentally download a game that requires a specific controller that they might not own. This of course put a very big limit for game devs as the number of buttons on the remote is far more limiting than what you can get on an actual game controller. With tvOS 10 launching this Fall, Apple is changing course and allowing for games to be designed with whatever combination developers feel is necessary.

For Sony and Apple, protecting the consumer should absolutely be a priority and while some may fall through the cracks, I believe adequate information prior to a game’s purchase is more than enough to address the issue. And if that’s not enough, though I’m not sure on the technical challenges, I believe hardware checks can be put in place where if either console requires a specific accessory to be played with it, they must be synced prior to a game’s purchase. Once synced, your console can take note that you own said device and only then allow you to purchase the title at hand. In Sony’s case, this will only work for those who purchase a digital download but for Apple, that’s the only way to get content on the new Apple TV.

Either way, I think it’s smart of both companies to lift the ban on needing to support the console’s default controller on each title.

Discuss:

Do you think all PlayStation VR games should support the DualShock 4 controller?