Sony acquires Softkinetic to bolster virtual reality technology in PlayStation

In the past Sony has licensed Softkinetic’s technology, but now will have full access to the company’s full spectrum of “time of flight” technology, which guages how long light takes to bounce off an object into its sensor in order to measure distance.

It is not known how much Sony shelled out to acquire SoftKinetic.

Continuing efforts to focus on its successful image sensor business, Sony announced today that it has completed the acquisition of SoftKinetic Systems for an undisclosed amount.

Sony has formed a new company for its semiconductor business, which includes its image sensor technology, called Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation.

Sony said it would combine Softkinetic’s ToF range image sensor technology expertise with its own technologies to develop range image sensors for imaging and other sensing-related applications.

We believe the abovementioned buyout is Sony’s strategic step towards strengthening its foothold in the virtual reality domain.

Sony, on the other hand, still requires two cameras for the gesture detection in its PlayStation 4 Camera controller, and uses computationally intensive stereoscopic vision techniques to pick out players from their background.

Apple reported at the end of September that sales of the new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus broke every one of the company’s previous first-weekend sales records, with more than 13 million devices sold in three days.

Last March Softkinetic demonstrated a $99 add-on to the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset, enabling VR applications to incorporate gesture control by measuring the distance to headset wearers’ hands with a 3D depth-sensing camera.

Of late, the company has been dedicated towards the profitable markets along with enhancing its core strengths.

The deal comes after Sony said earlier this week that it will split off its semiconductors operations to help bolster growth of its image sensors business.

The new business, Sony Semiconductor Solutions, is set to begin operating on April 1, 2016.