According to a report from Bloomberg, Sony Group Corp. has stopped making its PlayStation VR2 (PSVR2) headset due to having more unsold units than expected. Sales of the newly released virtual reality device have been slower than anticipated. This normally means there’s a big difference between sales and anticipated sales, so it’s a concern.
Initial pre-orders of the PSVR2 didn’t sell as well as expected, so Sony reduced the planned shipments in January 2023. Despite this change, the company still has a large number of unsold headsets. Reports indicate that Sony has produced over 2 million PSVR2 units since its launch in February 2023, but they haven’t disclosed any sales figures since May 2023. There could be many reasons for this, though.
The PSVR2 is priced at £530/$550/€600 without a bundled game, which is very expensive. This is especially so when considering the need for the PlayStation 5 console. Comparatively, I just bought a Meta Quest 3 for around $500, and it came with a free game. It can work straight from a PC, Steam, and Xbox Game Pass, and I can use it for work (which I do). It’s hard to choose a PSVR2 when that’s the competition.
Some have pointed to the high price and a limited library of dedicated VR games as reasons for slow sales. This was a big issue for the PSP Vita, which was great but had a very small library and failed. While the wider virtual reality market is still working to gain a strong mainstream presence, it’s hard to argue that a PSV2 is the right choice among the competition.
In response to an increase in inventory, Sony has reportedly halted the production of new PSVR2 units, opting to focus on selling existing stock. The company is also looking into ways to broaden the device’s appeal, such as making it compatible with PC gaming. We’ll have to wait and see where it goes, but things aren’t looking good for the platform.
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