Sony’s Project Morpheus For PlayStation 4 Officially Launched As PlayStation VR

For years, Sony’s virtual reality (VR) gear for PlayStation 4 was known to millions of followers as Project Morpheus, but it turns out, Project Morpheus is really just a codename for the PlayStation 4 VR headset.

Today, at the Tokyo Games Show, Sony officially reveals PlayStation VR, the official name for the VR gear for PlayStation 4. PlayStation fans’ reactions to Sony’s move were variated, from nonchalance all the way to hostility. A lot of PlayStation fans found Project Morpheus a more apt and “cool-sounding” name for the PlayStation 4 VR gear, but we have to give the PlayStation team props for creating a more official-sounding name for their VR gear.

It’s official: Project Morpheus is now PlayStation VR! pic.twitter.com/iwthYKbrVM

— PlayStation (@PlayStation) September 15, 2015

Project Morpheus for PlayStation was first announced at the Game Developers Conference in March, 2014, and it has evolved a lot ever since then. The last E3 2015 pitted the Project Morpheus VR for PlayStation 4 against other equally huge VR brands coming out in the market, like Oculus Rift, Samsung VR Gear, HTC Vive, and others. At the Tokyo Games Show today, Sony reveals that Project Morpheus for PlayStation 4 will now be known, officially, with a different name—PlayStation VR.

Executive Vice President, Division President of PlayStation Product Business, and Vice President of PlayStation Software Design Division, Masayasu Ito, shares how they came up with PlayStation VR.

The name ‘PlayStation VR’ not only directly expresses an entirely new experience from PlayStation that allows players to feel as if they are physically inside the virtual world of a game, but it also reflects our hopes that we want our users to feel a sense of familiarity as they enjoy this amazing experience.”

So far, PlayStation VR is still following its original planned released date, which is the first half of 2016, alongside other VR releases. Until then, Ito shares that they are continuing to develop PlayStation VR to bring the best experience to PlayStation users when it finally comes around next year.

“We will continue to refine the hardware from various aspects, while working alongside third party developers and publishers and SCE Worldwide Studios, in order to bring content that deliver exciting experiences only made possible with VR.”

A couple of third party developers are already involved with the PlayStation VR as of now, Forbes reports, and some of these cool demos for the PlayStation VR—playable through PlayStation 4—have been showing off for the past months in various gaming conferences. Some of the known PlayStation VR titles from huge developers are Trackmania Turbo from Ubisoft, Summer Lesson from Bandai Namco, Kitchen from Capcom, Wayward Sky from Uber Entertainment, and Godling from Solfar Studio. See more games listed as already compatible PlayStation VR titles in an IGN report.

PlayStation VR is set to hit the shelves next year and no price has yet been released for the PlayStation VR. Stay tuned for more updates.

[Images via Christian Petersen / Getty Images]