Apple's Vision Pro headset is now on sale after months of waiting since the June 5 unveiling at WWDC last year. The early Vision Pro reviews have been promising, if not universally great. If anything the headset gives observers a hint at what Apple wants the Vision Pro to become when more advanced technology is available. But you won't have to wait for a new version to play your favorite games — you can do that right now.
The Vision Pro ships with the App Store and there are tons of visionOS and iPad apps available for people to try out. Apple Arcade is present as well, and subscribers will be able to play the many great games offered there. But it turns out that you don't have to play the games that Apple and App Store developers have made — you can play your favorite console and PC games, too.
While you of course can't play your console or PC games natively on the Vision Pro, just like the iPhone and iPad, there are ways and means to play your favorite games in Apple's spatial computing world. Whether you're playing remotely from your own devices or via the magic that is cloud gaming, there are ways and means to do it on the Vision Pro and people are already doing just that. The Vision Pro's opening weekend has been and gone, and people have been gaming up a storm.
Playing games
Playing games on the Vision Pro looks to be a great experience, especially if you're playing titles that have been build specifically with spatial gaming in mind. But those who just want to be able to play their traditional games on the biggest screen possible have been using their Vision Pro to do it — the headset can create a huge virtual display for its apps to run in, and that means games can be played on those screens as well.
We've already seen people playing the hugely popular Palworld via the Steam Link iPad app, creating an experience that appears to be nothing short of magical. The display is absolutely huge, and you can take a look in the X post embedded below.
? Who said Vision Pro is not a gaming device? This is my set up to play PalWorld via Steam Link with a Bluetooth controller on the huge vision, pro screen on top of my kitchen sink?! pic.twitter.com/LsmvxkyUcyFebruary 3, 2024
Other options exist as well. The Nexus app brings cloud-based gaming including Xbox Cloud Gaming and Nvidia GeForce Now to the Vision Pro. It creates a frameless browser for progressive web apps (Safari doesn't natively support such web apps on the Vision Pro) and offers links to your favorite cloud gaming services. It's free, too.
Looking to remotely play your console games? The Xbox app has been updated to include Vision Pro support so those who already connect to their Xbox Series S|X console using their iPhone or iPad can just the same thing using their new headset just fine. Unfortunately, the PlayStation Remote Play app hasn't been updated, but MirrorPlay has. You can see that app in action below, too.
Can confirm, PS5 streaming is totally possible on Vision Pro using the MirrorPlay iPad app. pic.twitter.com/TIvXGZeU7KFebruary 3, 2024
Remember that the Vision Pro supports MFi game controllers as well as PlayStation and Xbox controllers and if you're playing on the same Wi-Fi network as the console itself you shouldn't notice too much lag, either.
Is the Vision Pro the best way to play your games on the big screen without buying a huge TV or projector? It might just be, although at $3,499 it isn't the cheapest.
That $3,499 gets you the Vision Pro with 256GB of storage while 512GB and 1TB models are also available should you need more space — although the beauty of streaming your games like this is that you don't need to worry about such things.
