The PlayStation VR2 is struggling, it appears. Based on a March 17 Bloomberg report, Sony has paused of the PS5’s digital actuality headset after its preliminary provide has failed to select up gross sales momentum, leading to an overflow of unsold inventory.
Bloomberg states that Sony has produced 2 million PSVR2 headsets because the gadget’s launch in February 2023, with gross sales constantly declining every quarter, in response to the Worldwide Information Company. That is consistent with a January 2023 Bloomberg report of a tough begin for Sony’s headset. Even earlier than the PlayStation VR2 was out, Sony was reportedly struggling to satisfy its personal pre-order expectations, although the corporate later denied this.
At a look, there are just a few causes this is likely to be occurring. The PSVR2 headset is pricey, with the next retail value than the PlayStation 5 itself. VR remains to be a distinct segment market, primarily as a result of it’s so costly and in addition as a result of there aren’t loads of huge video games that assist it. And talking from expertise, VR headsets are cumbersome to put on and might trigger movement illness in some customers. There’s additionally the truth that the PSVR2 headset is not backwards suitable with the unique headset’s video games. So there’s so much working in opposition to the gadget, regardless that it’s a powerful piece of tech.
PSVR2 additionally lacks a significant system-selling sport. Whereas Horizon: Name of the Mountain put certainly one of Sony’s huge franchises on the headset on launch day, a lot of the gadget’s line-up falls again on novelty video games that make nice tech demos, however don’t make an excellent case for dropping half a grand. The unique PSVR bought round 5 million models by 2020, which was a drop within the bucket by way of connect fee to the 106 million PlayStation 4 consoles bought on the time. Sony has stated it’s testing PSVR2 on PC, so possibly it’s going to see an uptick in gross sales when it’s not tied to particular {hardware}.
For extra on the PlayStation VR2, take a look at Kotaku’s assessment.
