PlayStation VR 2 could be a major disappointment for Sony, report claims
Sony’s PlayStation VR 2 could be looking to be a major disappointment, according to a new report.
The company has reduced its sales projections for the launch of the virtual reality headset, according to a new report from Bloomberg.
The company has been forced to halve the forecast of the number of the headsets it will ship, to two million from one million, according to the report.
Sony is expecting to sell 1.5 million units between the upcoming April and March 2024, for instance. That would give it a relatively small share of the market.
The original PSVR headset – which was released in 2016, for the PlayStation 4 – also struggled, and has always had a relatively limited share of the market.
The console will not arrive until 22 February. But pre-orders opened in November, and Sony has been encouraging customers to buy one ahead of time.
Unlike the base PS5 console, the PSVR2 is still widely available in stores, with no waiting list or difficulty finding stock. That may be the result of increased supply and the growing availability of hardware – but might also be a sign of lower demand.
Sony has said, for instance, that the supply of PS5 consoles has finally increased, and that the difficulty getting hold of them should finally be over.
The console is markedly expensive: at $549, it is more expensive than the PS5 itself, as well as other competitors made by companies such as HTC.
Even those competitors are struggling to sell their headsets. Meta has been forced to drop the price of its Quest headset, for instance, and many companies have reduced their focus on virtual reality with upcoming layoffs.
At the same time, the PSVR2 will be competing with rumoured headsets from a range of companies. Apple is widely rumoured to be planning to release a mixed reality headset later this year, for instance.
