It looks like Sony is trimming back its sales forecasts for the PSVR 2 along with unit production following the overwhelming pre-order performance.
Pre-launch stats for PSVR2 did not quite meet Sony’s expectations, what, how Bloomberg reports (opens in new tab), initially stood at a whopping 2 million units available worldwide throughout the launch quarter. So Sony has clearly bet a lot on its latest VR peripheral.
Now, however, Sony has set a more realistic expectation of shipping 1.5 million units in the upcoming fiscal year (April 2023 to March 2024), according to an as yet unnamed delivery partner. For comparison, Sony has sold about 30 million PS5 Consoles from December 2022, suggesting Sony expects one in 15 PS5 owners to buy the VR headset.
Back to the virtual drawing board
So what about the lukewarm pre-release reception of PSVR 2 among consumers? For starters, all you have to do is look at the price of the headset. At $549/£529 it’s even more expensive than the PS5 itself. No matter how you slice it, that’s bad looks for anyone considering buying any of this Best PS5 Accessories.
And while Sony has confirmed a large launch lineup of games for PSVR 2, with over 20 games available On day one, there’s a distinct lack of attention-grabbing killer apps to get the VR headset into the expected state. At least for potential buyers who don’t have much disposable income.
It’s a problem that VR has struggled with for years. Yes, there are occasional standouts in the way of Half-Life: Alyx and Resident Evil 4 VRbut on the whole the high cost even the The best VR headsets make it a very niche corner of gaming. A lack of backward compatibility hurts the fall of PSVR 2 even more as players can’t bring their existing ones with them PSVR Libraries for the new headset.
I think that applies to PSVR 2 as well. Most PS5 owners just won’t queue up to throw another half grand at a peripheral that, while very promising in the specs department, doesn’t offer nearly as compelling a games library as the The best PS5 games.
It looks to me like Sony grossly overestimated PSVR 2’s appeal if reports of it trimming its pre-launch sales forecasts are true. And that $549 / £529 price tag makes it all the more striking in the face of an ongoing cost-of-living crisis with no end in sight.
I’m all for PSVR 2 Existing, if only to start expanding the number of console-based VR headsets available. But Sony, much like we’ve seen with that DualSense Edgecertainly fiddled with the pricing.
