PlayStation has released a 13-minute video featuring a complete hardware teardown of the upcoming PSVR 2 headset.

Takamasa Araki, the head of PlayStation’s mechanical design team, hosts the PSVR 2 teardown. The video is as much a look at the guts of Sony’s latest piece of gaming hardware as it is a chance for a team representative to talk about design philosophy. Araki is the right guy to talk about the headset — he also led the design team on the original PSVR headset.

As Araki pulls the headset apart (with what I feel is absolutely shocking ease), finer details begin to emerge. The new light shield was designed after thorough testing with new data on head sizes and nose shapes from around the world. Araki is also quite proud of the front visor’s design — light and aesthetically pleasing on the exterior, the camera and lens units within were also designed for left-to-right symmetry internally.

Electrical engineers should enjoy that part. Like seeing an example of complex-but-beautiful cable management, it produces a sigh of deep satisfaction.

A new fan and duct within the visor serve multiple purposes — bringing cool air into the headset to keep the user’s temperature regulated, while also cooling internal components as it does. This is quite important because, as we noted in our preview earlier this month, the headset felt quite warm after a bit of use.

Having removed the board, Araki is able to show viewers how the headset’s horizontal lens adjustment mechanism works. Once he has the individual lenses in hand, Araki explains that there are IR light cameras installed in each lens. These IR beams are used to calculate eye-tracking.

Disassembling the headband reveals another bit of lovely cable management — the cable that connects the headset to the PS5 runs through the back of the headset, pinched into position and adjusts on a small mechanism as the headband is adjusted to fit the user. This part of the teardown reveals the way the PSVR 2 handles haptics — vibration motors are built into the headset, allowing it to rumble with your controllers to create more immersive force feedback.

You can catch the full video on the official PlayStation YouTube channel.

David Smith is the editor of Kotaku Australia. A games journalist and industry observer for nine years, he has previously written for The AU Review and PC World Australia. He has appeared on ABC Radio, covered live events around the world, and is a regular guest on industry panels and podcasts.

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