Sony’s new virtual reality headset is probably not selling as well as hoped. According to market researchers, fewer than 300,000 copies of the Playstation VR2 (PSVR2) have been sold in the first few weeks after it went on sale in February. Although the buyer needs a game console to operate it, Sony expected more popularity in view of the hype surrounding the Metaverse.
The reports Bloomberg citing market research firm IDC. Analysts expect Sony to have sold 270,000 PSVR2s between February 22nd and the end of March. Sony does not name any numbers itself, according to Bloomberg last year it had still expected 2 million copies sold for the first time after the market launch. However, this should relate to a longer period of time than just one month.
Sony recently said at a financial conference that the Japanese company aims to sell around 5 million copies over the life of the PSVR2 on the market. This roughly corresponds to the sales figures of the predecessor, the Playstation VR, which was launched for the Playstation 4 in 2016. However, the pre-orders for the PSVR2 had already fallen short of expectations. However, Sony has denied that the production of the virtual reality headset will be reduced as a result.
World economic situation could lead to PSVR2 price reduction
According to IDC, one of the reasons for the moderate popularity is the global economic situation. Consumers are faced with rising living costs and, in some cases, layoffs. VR headsets would therefore not have a high priority. In addition, PSVR2 is sold significantly more expensive than its predecessor, for 600 instead of 400 euros. The current VR headset from Meta is also cheaper, the Quest 2 is available in Germany for 450 euros. Therefore, IDC expects a price reduction of the PSVR2 to “avoid a complete disaster of the new product”.
Sony had described the Metaverse as a growth driver. The in-house game studios have developed games tailored to virtual reality in order to help the new VR headset get off to a quick start on the market. However, this has not yet come about. But Sony isn’t the only company in this situation. Disney recently shut down its Metaverse division to cut costs. Meta itself also wants to reduce its investments and has proclaimed a “Year of Efficiency”, which has so far manifested itself in austerity measures and layoffs.
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