UPDATE MAY 24, 2023: Sony Interactive Entertainment has provided new sales figures for the PlayStation VR2. While the original article indicated that sales were off to a slow start, Sony Interactive Entertainment has published its latest business presentation, indicating it sold 600,000 units up until the beginning of April. The sales number accounts for the hardware’s first six weeks on the market and is likely higher than it was posted.
Compared to the original PS VR, this is around 8 percent higher than the original hardware that launched in 2016. In February, the headset launched with over 40 games available including Horizon Call of the Mountain, Gran Turismo 7, and Resident Evil Village.
Original article below:
Bloomberg reports that Sony’s PlayStation VR2 has sold far fewer units than expected by the end of March 2023. The number indicated by Bloomberg article states that there will be under 300,000 units sold by the end of this month, more specifically, Sony is on track to sell 270,000 units. However, it should be noted that these figures are estimates from the research firm IDC.
Initially, Sony wanted to produce 2 million units in the first three months of its sales forecast. The number was then slashed to just 1 million units to be produced in the first three months. IDC analyst Francisco Geronimo suggests that a price cut may be in order to “avoid a complete disaster,” but it feels much too early to tell.
“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,” said Jeronimo. “I suspect a price cut on the PSVR2 will be needed to avoid a complete disaster of their new product.”
First-party and third-party support is the biggest thing I believe Sony needs to consider going forward. The hardware itself is powerful and entertaining and I enjoy using PSVR 2 often, with the like of Gran Turismo 7, Kayak VR, Synth Riders, and Pistol Whip keeping me invested in the hardware.
The tech is powerful but the barrier to entry is where I can see many potential buyers yield. In Canada, the price of a PlayStation 5 begins at $649 and then when you factor in the $749 price tag of the PSVR2, it adds up. This is without any software so it’s even steeper as an entry point. Plus the lack of backward compatibility has rubbed people the wrong way, leading to cancelled pre-orders.
VR hasn’t grown nearly as fast as other industries and the way Meta has tried to grow the Metaverse has been a farce. When you think of VR then you may think of the Metaverse and vice versa but ultimately, these are separate things and I can understand the confusion.
