In the latest edition of his Power On newsletter for Bloomberg, Mark Gurman explains that Apple is going “all-in on hand and eye control for Vision Pro.” This is a big difference between Apple’s headset and products from companies like Meta, which tend to offer robust support for VR game controllers.
Gurman also reports that Apple “explored the idea of a finger-worn device that would work as a controller.” The company also tested using third-party VR controllers from companies like HTC with Vision.
Ultimately, however, Apple “decided that tracking hand and eye movements without an accessory was a more elegant solution.”
Despite feedback from developers and VR gamers themselves, Gurman says Apple isn’t planning to change its mind on this decision. “As of now, I’m told that Apple isn’t planning its own Vision Pro game controller, nor is it actively planning support for third-party VR accessories,” he writes.
During the Vision Pro announcement at WWDC, Apple touted that Vision Pro will support games from Apple Arcade. The example in the keynote showed a Vision Pro user playing NBA 2K in a 2D visionOS window with a PlayStation DualSense controller.
