Hello, it's unbelievable to me that it has been SEVEN years since No Man's Sky was released, and to celebrate today we are releasing our largest update of the year - No Man's Sky ECHOES. Our aim with ECHOES has been to breathe new life into the universe, with a new robotic race, our first race introduced since launch in 2016. We have also overhauled space combat with a focus on creating truly epic space battles, introducing freighter-to-freighter battles for the first time.

In ECHOES Travellers will discover a never seen before, long-hidden race of robots with rich new story content. Engage in robot assignments and rituals to earn a huge array of mechanical parts to create your own robotic avatar. New pirate freighters bring huge space battles to the universe. Defend fleets from pirates. Fly through enemy trenches to sabotage their shields, and destroy them!

Today, we're happy to announce four new titles making their way onto PS VR2 in the near future. Below you can enjoy the reveal trailers plus additional details about new games such as Pixel Ripped 1995, Tiger Blade and 7th Guest VR, plus get the first look at the PS VR2 debut of the critically acclaimed Wanderer: The Fragments of Fate. These four join the ever growing PS VR2 lineup, which includes games like recently launched action rhythm title Beat Saber and upcoming games like mind-bending sci-fi shooter Synapse, horror-fueled Resident Evil 4 VR, and other new additions announced at last month's PlayStation Showcase.

Unsure what to play next? Remember there are many demos and trials of games on PlayStation Store, including Horizon Call of The Mountain, Resident Evil Village, Star Wars: Tales from the Galaxy's Edge and more. Without further ado, let's introduce the new games and let their creators share more details:

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.

On the heels of a weaker than expected 2022, International Data Corporation (IDC) has lowered its forecast for augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) headsets in 2023. Global shipments are now expected to reach 10.1 million units this year, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Augmented and Virtual Reality Headset Tracker. Despite the revised outlook, total AR/VR headset shipments are expected to grow 14% in 2023 and accelerate over the 2023-2027 forecast period with a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 32.6%.

Sony executive deputy president and CFO Hiroki Totoki made a number of declarations at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference that took place on March 6, 2023. Totoki-san outlined corporate strategies for the Japanese technology and entertainment giant. During a discussion about Sony Group Corporation's investment budgets, he stated that 700 billion Yen has been allocated to spend strategically across several company divisions in 2023, this converts to just over 5 billion US dollars. This represents the remainder of a 2 trillion Yen budget that was announced back in 2021, as a three year long strategic investment plan.