Sony Cuts PS VR2 Production Following Slow Pre-Order Phase
Sony Interactive Entertainment has announced late last year that the PS VR2 will be available next month, specifically on 22 February, and for a price of RM2799. Naturally, as is common practice in the gaming industry, pre-orders were open shortly after the announcement. But it didn’t go to well, at least by the company’s standards, as a recent report indicates that it is slashing production of the upcoming VR headset.
According to Bloomberg, SIE has told one supply partner to “expect reduced panel orders”, as a result of its reduced shipment forecast of the PS VR2. The report also notes that while the company initially aimed to ship 2 million headsets in its launch quarter, now the company is only forecasting that 1 million units will be shipped. Following that, between April of this year and March of 2024, the company is only looking to ship an additional 1.5 million headsets, pending adjustments to demand changes.
Despite all the hype for VR tech, this is less pretty much the expected outcome. At RM2799, the PS VR2 will be more expensive than the PS5, even after its price hike up to RM2499. This is consistent even in the previous console generation, where the first PSVR launched with a price of RM1849 while the PS4, including the Pro version, launched at RM1799. And that’s not counting the PS Camera. Evidently, the price gap has only widened since the last console generation, which will discourage adoption even further.
SIE does have a healthy lineup of launch titles for the PS VR2. This is not counting existing games like Gran Turismo 7 and Resident Evil Village which will be getting their own VR modes when the headset launched. But it looks like they are not enough to excite potential fans to pick up the headset. Either way, it’s pretty difficult to justify what is effectively an accessory to the actual PS5 console itself being more expensive than the primary machine.
(Source: Bloomberg)
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