The Playroom VR
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| The Playroom VR | |
|---|---|
| Information | |
| VR/AR | Virtual Reality |
| Developer | Japan Studio (Asobi! Team) |
| Publisher | Sony Interactive Entertainment |
| Platform | PlayStation VR |
| Device | PlayStation VR |
| Operating System | PlayStation 4 |
| Type | Game |
| Genre | Party |
| Input Device | DualShock 4 |
| Game Mode | Single-player, Multiplayer, Co-op |
| Release Date | October 13, 2016 |
| Price | Free for PlayStation VR owners |
| App Store | PlayStation Store |
| Website | https://store.playstation.com/en-us/concept/10000975 |
The Playroom VR (stylized THE PLAYROOM VR) is a 2016 virtual reality party game for the PlayStation VR headset on PlayStation 4, developed by Sony's Japan Studio and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. It is a collection of minigames in which one player wears the headset while up to four others play on the television with DualShock 4 controllers, each side seeing a different view of the same game.[1][2][3] Sony released it on 13 October 2016, the launch day of PlayStation VR, as a free download for owners of the headset.[1]
The game was made by the Asobi! Team, the Japan Studio group behind the 2013 PlayStation 4 title The Playroom. Its creative director and producer, Nicolas Doucet, described it as "the first ever sofa multiplayer experience released on VR".[1] One of its minigames, Robots Rescue, became the basis for the team's next game, Astro Bot Rescue Mission (2018).[4] On Metacritic the game has a Metascore of 77 ("generally favorable") from six critic reviews.[5]
Gameplay
The Playroom VR uses PlayStation VR's ability to show the television a different image from the one in the headset: the headset wearer sees the game in virtual reality, while the TV shows a separate view for the other players in the room.[1] In most of the minigames the VR player and the TV players have different roles in a competitive or cooperative game. Multiplayer needs only a single PlayStation VR headset and a single DualShock 4 controller, and the PlayStation Store listing gives a range of one to five players.[6][2] The game requires PlayStation VR, the PlayStation Camera and a DualShock 4 controller.[2]
The headset player's movements drive an in-game character that the TV players can see. During playtesting the team noticed that people who knew they were being watched began to exaggerate their head movements for comic effect, so in Monster Escape and Cat and Mouse the game captures the VR player's voice through the microphone in the headset, pitches it up and plays it back on the television, with the character's mouth moving roughly in time.[6][7] Menus are navigated partly by gaze: the player chooses a minigame by looking at it.[8] The PlayStation Camera tracks the DualShock 4 by its light bar, so the controller appears in VR and moves as it does in the real world; several minigames turn it into an in-game gadget.[8]
Coins earned in the minigames can be spent in a crane machine in the Mini Bots area to unlock up to 60 toys. After each minigame the players take a celebration photo, which then appears in a slideshow on that minigame's title screen.[6]
Minigames
At launch the game contained six games: Monster Escape, Cat and Mouse, Ghost House, Robots Rescue, Wanted! and the Mini Bots area (called "VR Bots" in the store description). A seventh game, Toy Wars, was added in a free update in February 2017.[3][2][9]
| Minigame | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Monster Escape | Competitive | The VR player is a giant monster that destroys a city with its head, while the TV players run away and eventually fight back.[1] The monster's health is shown on four LEDs in the corners of its headset, which break as its stamina drops.[10] |
| Cat and Mouse | Competitive | The VR player is a cartoon cat that hides behind curtains and tries to catch the TV players, who play mice stealing cheese in a kitchen.[1] |
| Ghost House | Cooperative | The VR player explores a haunted house and relies on a TV player to say where to shoot the ghosts.[1] The DualShock 4 becomes a ghost blaster attached to the player by a cable.[10] It has four stages.[6] |
| Wanted! | Multiplayer | A Wild West game; the VR player's character is a cowboy with an eye patch, poncho and hat.[10][2] It has four stages and an endless mode.[6] |
| Robots Rescue | Platformer for one or two players | A short third-person platformer in which the player guides a robot through the level and rescues other robots; it can be played alone.[6][2][11][4] The controller becomes a grappling hook that the player fires by flicking the touchpad, and at the end of the game the touchpad works as a slingshot.[8] |
| Mini Bots | Solo experience | A relaxed area that Doucet described as "more a chilled experience than a game" and an introduction to VR for friends and family. The VR Bots react when the player looks at them, a crane machine called The Grabber is started by inserting the controller into it, and blowing into the headset microphone lifts a toy helicopter.[6][8] |
| Toy Wars (added 1 February 2017) | Cooperative | A four-player cooperative tower defense-style game set in an underground base under the hero's bedroom. It can be played alone in VR or with TV players. The VR player is an action hero on a swivel chair whose DualShock 4 becomes a Gatling gun firing soft plastic bullets, while the TV players control large mechs operated by VR Bots and punch enemies to keep them away from the VR player.[9] |
Development
The Playroom VR was the first virtual reality title from Japan Studio's Asobi! Team, which had made The Playroom for PlayStation 4. "Asobi" means "play" in Japanese.[1][6] According to Doucet, team members had previously worked on games including EyeToy, Ape Escape, EyePet, Gravity Rush, The Last Guardian and WipEout, and members came from the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Japan. It took 18 people 18 months to make the game.[6]
Doucet wrote that the team wanted to keep a social side to VR, which it saw as usually a solitary experience. Because PlayStation VR sits in the living room next to a television, the team tested whether the TV could be used at the same time as the headset. Its first prototype connected a PlayStation Vita development kit to the PS4 through Remote Play, sent one image to the headset and a different view to the Vita, and showed the Vita's output on a TV. A simple head model mirrored the VR player's head movements, and small characters controlled with DualShock 4 controllers turned it into a five-player prototype. Doucet wrote that after these prototypes were shown inside the company, "the feature of a separate screen became a reality for PS VR".[1]
The team built more than 40 prototypes before settling on the final six games.[6] Some used head interactions, others the controller's touchpad and motion sensor; a bike demo and a flying demo were left out because they were too intense as a first introduction to VR.[8] An eight-versus-one version of Cat and Mouse, with each controller shared by two players, was also cut for lack of time.[6] Japan Studio states that The Playroom VR was the first game to show a PlayStation VR demo running at a native 120 frames per second, at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco in 2015.[6]
For the character designs, the team first tried a floating headset with eyes and then gave the characters a visor so that their link to the real headset was obvious; the blue LEDs of the PlayStation VR headset were reused in the designs and, where possible, in the gameplay.[10] The small robots of The Playroom, the AR Bots, had been chosen because robots were the simplest way to make many small characters look good.[6] Once prototypes were in place, the team brought in the UK outsourcer Firesprite, which had been assembled from former members of Sony's Studio Liverpool, to help with visuals.[6] When Sony announced its acquisition of Firesprite in September 2021, it said that Firesprite had partnered with SIE to develop games for the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation VR launches, including The Playroom and The Playroom VR.[12]
Release
Sony gave the game away to PlayStation VR owners as a thank-you for buying the headset.[1][2] The download is a little over 2 GB and can be started through PlayGo before it has finished downloading.[6] Owning PlayStation VR and the PlayStation Camera also unlocks the full original augmented reality version of The Playroom.[6]
| Date | Event | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 13 October 2016 | Release on PlayStation VR (PlayStation 4) | Free download at the headset's launch[1][3] |
| 1 February 2017 | Toy Wars update | New cooperative minigame, free to all PlayStation VR owners[9] |
The US PlayStation Store listing gives a release date of 10 October 2016.[2] The game was still offered free on the PlayStation Store in October 2026.[2]
Reception
On Metacritic, The Playroom VR has a Metascore of 77 ("generally favorable") based on six critic reviews, three positive and three mixed.[5] In Japan, the four reviewers of Weekly Famitsu gave it 7, 8, 8 and 7, for a total of 30 out of 40.[13]
| Publication | Score | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Metacritic (aggregate) | 77/100 | 6 critic reviews[5] |
| Famitsu | 30/40 | Weekly Famitsu issue 1456[13] |
| games(TM) | 8/10 | Issue 180[5][14] |
| PlayStation Official Magazine UK | 80/100 | Christmas 2016 issue, as listed by Metacritic[5] |
| Gameblog.fr | 80/100 | As listed by Metacritic[5] |
| Multiplayer.it | 72/100 | As listed by Metacritic[5] |
| Push Square | 7/10 | Review by Simon Fitzgerald[5][14] |
| JeuxActu | 70/100 | As listed by Metacritic[5] |
Simon Fitzgerald of Push Square called the game "a good collection of couch co-op mini-games that demonstrate the capabilities of the VR headset superbly", while noting that a few of the games would be played once and never touched again; he singled out Robots Rescue as "a standout experience that you'll wish was a fully-fledged game in itself".[5][14] games(TM) called it "proof that VR needn't be a solitary experience", and PlayStation Official Magazine UK described it as "a no-fuss, free party game collection for all ages".[5] JeuxActu considered the content light but wrote that the game was "an excellent way to introduce VR to newcomers and family alike".[5] Two Famitsu reviewers singled out Robot Rescue, and one wrote that it would be worth paying for if it had more stages.[13]
Robots Rescue drew attention of its own after launch. In an October 2016 article, UploadVR's Jamie Feltham called it "PS VR's answer to Lucky's Tale" and wrote that its few minutes were among the most enjoyable he had had with the headset, but that it lasted only about ten minutes; he asked Sony Japan to make a full version.[11]
In October 2019 UploadVR, reporting PlayStation Network data that Sony had published, wrote that The Playroom VR was "the most-played PSVR game", counted by the number of PSN accounts that had played each title.[15] Sony's own list of the most-played PlayStation VR games for its fifth anniversary in 2021 excluded The Playroom VR from the data.[16]
Legacy
Doucet told Road to VR that the team started working on Astro Bot Rescue Mission shortly after releasing the downloadable content for The Playroom VR, and that "the gamers inside us loved 'Robot Rescue'" because it was closer to classic gamers' taste. Road to VR's Ben Lang wrote that the fundamentals of Robot Rescue and Astro Bot are "one in the same".[4] When Doucet announced the game in May 2018, he described it as coming from "the team who brought you The Playroom and The Playroom VR".[17]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 Nicolas Doucet (2016-09-26). "How Japan Studio created the first virtual reality "couch multiplayer" game with The Playroom VR". PlayStation.Blog. Sony Interactive Entertainment. https://blog.playstation.com/archive/2016/09/26/how-japan-studio-created-the-first-virtual-reality-couch-multiplayer-game-with-the-playroom-vr. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 "The Playroom VR". PlayStation Store. Sony Interactive Entertainment. https://store.playstation.com/en-us/concept/10000975. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Sid Shuman (2016-10-05). "PlayStation VR: Launch Lineup and Beyond". PlayStation.Blog. Sony Interactive Entertainment. https://blog.playstation.com/2016/10/05/playstation-vr-launch-lineup-and-beyond/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Ben Lang (2018-11-07). "'ASTRO BOT' Behind-the-scenes - Insights & Artwork from Sony's JAPAN Studio". Road to VR. https://www.roadtovr.com/astro-bot-behind-the-scenes-insights-and-artwork-sony-japan-studio-nicolas-doucet/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ 5.00 5.01 5.02 5.03 5.04 5.05 5.06 5.07 5.08 5.09 5.10 5.11 "The Playroom VR - PlayStation 4 Critic Reviews". Metacritic. https://www.metacritic.com/game/the-playroom-vr/critic-reviews/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ 6.00 6.01 6.02 6.03 6.04 6.05 6.06 6.07 6.08 6.09 6.10 6.11 6.12 6.13 6.14 6.15 Nicolas Doucet (2016-09-30). "25 fun facts about The Playroom VR (warning: contains bird poop)". PlayStation.Blog. Sony Interactive Entertainment. https://blog.playstation.com/archive/2016/09/30/25-fun-facts-about-the-playroom-vr-warning-contains-bird-poop/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ Nicolas Doucet (2016-09-28). "Getting Goofy in The Playroom VR". PlayStation.Blog. Sony Interactive Entertainment. https://blog.playstation.com/2016/09/28/getting-goofy-in-the-playroom-vr/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 Nicolas Doucet (2016-09-29). "Trying New Ways to Play in The Playroom VR". PlayStation.Blog. Sony Interactive Entertainment. https://blog.playstation.com/2016/09/29/trying-new-ways-to-play-in-the-playroom-vr/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Nicolas Doucet (2017-02-01). "New game 'Toy Wars' joins The Playroom VR today, and it's free". PlayStation.Blog. Sony Interactive Entertainment. https://blog.playstation.com/archive/2017/02/01/new-game-toy-wars-joins-the-playroom-vr-today-and-its-free. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 Nicolas Doucet (2016-09-27). "The Playroom VR: Creating New VR Heroes". PlayStation.Blog. Sony Interactive Entertainment. https://blog.playstation.com/2016/09/27/the-playroom-vr-creating-new-vr-heroes/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Jamie Feltham (2016-10-26). "'Robot Rescue' Would Be One Of PlayStation VR's Best, If It Were A Full Game". UploadVR. https://uploadvr.com/robot-rescue-psvr/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ "Sony Interactive Entertainment to Acquire Firesprite". Sony Interactive Entertainment. 2021-09-08. https://sonyinteractive.com/en/press-releases/2021/sony-interactive-entertainment-to-acquire-firesprite/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 "THE PLAYROOM VR (PS4) reviews". Famitsu. KADOKAWA Game Linkage. https://www.famitsu.com/game/title/34128/reviews. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 "The Playroom (VR) Reviews". OpenCritic. https://opencritic.com/game/3514/the-playroom-vr. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ Jamie Feltham (2019-10-15). "Here Are The Most Popular PSVR Games According To PSN". UploadVR. https://uploadvr.com/most-popular-psvr-games/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ Isabelle Tomatis (2021-10-13). "Celebrating five years of PlayStation VR". PlayStation.Blog. Sony Interactive Entertainment. https://blog.playstation.com/2021/10/13/celebrating-five-years-of-playstation-vr/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ Nicolas Doucet (2018-05-23). "Introducing Astro Bot Rescue Mission for PlayStation VR". PlayStation.Blog. Sony Interactive Entertainment. https://blog.playstation.com/2018/05/23/introducing-astro-bot-rescue-mission-for-playstation-vr/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.