Friday, March 31st 2023
Sony PlayStation VR2 Suffers First Month Low Unit Sales, Price Cut Predicted
Industry analysts have been busy with reviews of the PlayStation VR2 headset's launch sales figures, and have concluded that the numbers are a big disappointment according to findings published in a Bloomberg article. The research firm IDC is predicting that the PS VR2 is unlikely to break above 270,000 unit sales - timed from its launch this year on February 22 to the end of March. This is a substantial shortfall when lined up against the expected sales figures - Sony was reported to have an estimate of 2 million units sold going into the next financial year, but it was cutback to 1.5 million in the recent past. Francisco Jeronimo, IDC's Vice President of data and analytics cites a number of factors for the sluggish start: "Consumers around the world are facing rising costs of living, rising interest rates and rising layoffs - VR headsets are not top of mind for most consumers under the current economic climate."
Gamers were surprised by the higher than expected pricing for the PlayStation VR2 headset - at an MSRP of $550 it exceeds the asking price of the PlayStation 5 - and the home console is a necessary component in hosting the VR2's functionality. The virtual reality device has been a critical darling, although reviewers have been quick to question the price tag. It has been praised for an impressive specification and feature set, which includes dual 2,000 x 2,040 OLED displays, class leading eye-tracking tech and innovative Move wand controllers. The analysts share similar views about the high MSRP - Jeronimo predicts that Sony will need to take drastic action in order to right its sales ship: "I suspect a price cut on the PS VR2 will be needed to avoid a complete disaster of their new product." A price cut would perhaps appeal to a more mainstream buyer, coupled with the PlayStation VR2 being part of an ultra familiar gaming brand, but VR headset manufacturers as a whole are experiencing a slowdown in sales. Gamers were slow to adopt the first iteration of Sony's virtual headset, and that pattern appears to be repeating for the new model.
Sources:
Bloomberg News, Francisco Jeronimo's Tweet
Gamers were surprised by the higher than expected pricing for the PlayStation VR2 headset - at an MSRP of $550 it exceeds the asking price of the PlayStation 5 - and the home console is a necessary component in hosting the VR2's functionality. The virtual reality device has been a critical darling, although reviewers have been quick to question the price tag. It has been praised for an impressive specification and feature set, which includes dual 2,000 x 2,040 OLED displays, class leading eye-tracking tech and innovative Move wand controllers. The analysts share similar views about the high MSRP - Jeronimo predicts that Sony will need to take drastic action in order to right its sales ship: "I suspect a price cut on the PS VR2 will be needed to avoid a complete disaster of their new product." A price cut would perhaps appeal to a more mainstream buyer, coupled with the PlayStation VR2 being part of an ultra familiar gaming brand, but VR headset manufacturers as a whole are experiencing a slowdown in sales. Gamers were slow to adopt the first iteration of Sony's virtual headset, and that pattern appears to be repeating for the new model.
34 Comments on Sony PlayStation VR2 Suffers First Month Low Unit Sales, Price Cut Predicted
If they allow it, it would sky rocketed like the quest 2
For what it’s worth, I bought the original PSVR earlier in its release as a birthday present for my Son. IMO, it was serviceable but not spectacular and definitely not worth the introductory MSRP. Looking at the tech in the PSVR2, it does look like it is worth trying but not buying at its current price. It has some interesting tech like eye tracking but the controllers are definitely prone to the same occlusion issues as older VR HMD inside out tracking solutions (that is an old dog doing old tricks). Quest Pro self tracking controllers or even older outside in tracking solutions would yield superior tracking.
Anyway, Sony was likely always going to reduce the price of the PSVR2, it just looks like now they will have to do it a little sooner than expected. At ~$350 USD I might bite.
I’d be surprised if Sony ever officially supported the PSVR2 on PC. Hindsight is 20/20 and Sony still hasn’t done this with the original PSVR. I think the most anyone could reasonably expect is some industrious individual or group finds a way to hack PSVR2 support onto PC.
One would think Sony would sell the PSVR / PSVR2 at a loss in order to develop their walled garden in furtherance of selling games / services. Their unwillingness to do so strongly suggest that they don’t have the VR games / services to begin with nor do they expect to in the immediate future.
Still the point is that there is no massive library of VR games on the PS5 and only time will tell if such a library is ever accrued. Naturally only a subset of said library will be to any one user’s liking.
Expecting to sell more PSVR2 units and having to adjust the expected sales downward likely won’t help make more VR games for the platform. Underestimating customer demand never really bodes well for anyone unless you include picking through the bargain bin of a store for abandoned products.
Drop the price of the PSVR2 ASAP Sony.
2 - It has actually gone up in price, since launch, where I live.