A month after launch, some analysts are already creating a panic about PlayStation VR2 headset sales. Bloomberg reports that PS5 accessories are projected to have sold fewer than 300,000 units in the first month, renewing calls to drop the high-end $550 price tag.
Premiered on February 22, PS VR2 is a comfortable, high-quality headset with decent gaming that still struggles to justify the premium cost. In addition to the headset, users also need a PS5, which starts at $400, plus the games themselves, like the $50 one. Mountain Horizon Call. Sony has yet to release official sales numbers, but the estimates so far from some analysts aren’t reassuring about the company’s latest VR game.
Research firm IDC said Bloomberg on March 29 expect PS VR2 to only sell 270,000 units in its first month, staggeringly short of the 2 million goal Bloomberg had previously reported based on order requests to parts suppliers (which Sony has called inaccurate). “I suspect that it will be necessary to reduce the price of the PSVR2 to avoid a complete disaster of their new product,” said Francisco Jeronimo, vice president of data and analytics at IDC.
PS VR2 launched at a strange time with companies like Meta, owner of Facebook cutting your investment in the virtual reality market. It also doesn’t yet have a blockbuster game to help win over skeptics and newcomers. And it’s a great additional investment at a time when many gamers seem content to just get a PS5 and be done for the day. The Sony console had its best sales month ever in February.
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Somehow it feels like a repeat of the Original PS VR release in 2016. That headset didn’t set the world on fire right out the door, and it took six months to break a million sales. He eventually sold 5 million headphones in total. That’s a respectable number for a first try, but it would be a disaster in a mature market where Meta managed to sell 20 million Oculus Quest 2s.
It’s hard to see PS VR2 coming close to that without an early and dramatic price cut, or the reveal of a VR adaptation of a major Sony franchise that will be a headset exclusive. The current Horizon spin-off is not quite thereand is not yet part of the PS Plus monthly subscription library.
