PlayStation VR YouTube’s 360-Degree Videos Support Announced

PlayStation VR has proved to be a viable contender in the virtual reality space, but one area where it’s been lacking compared to the big PC alternatives is 360-degree YouTube videos. That’s all changed now, as Sony has added YouTube 360-degree support to the PSVR, which opens up a whole new world of content to owners of the headset.

Although being able to move around and interact with virtual worlds is the big draw of VR, 360-degree video content also has an exciting role to play in the medium’s adoption. It can let people view parts of the real world as if they were actually there and help people understand the plight of individuals in difficult situations.

YouTube plays host to a vast array of 360-degree video content, from safaris to the 2017 presidential inauguration ceremony. And now all of that is available to PSVR owners, giving them access to a lot more content.

You can even tour some of this year’s most exciting CES booths with our very own 360-degree footage from the show floor.

PSVR owners won’t be limited to 360-degree video in 2D — there is a lot of 3D 360-degree content on YouTube that Redditors have kindly put into some handy lists for us. There is a 3D, 360-degree trailer of the awe-inspiring Apollo 11 experience, a showcase of Minecraft in virtual reality, and even a first person recording of the Back to the Future ride from Universal Studios.

As Engadget reports, PSVR support of YouTube’s 360-degree content had a trial run last year, but it ran into a few issues with resolution and the PSVR’s wide 100-degree field of view. Here’s hoping that it’s been sorted out in the intervening months.