In a recent report, it was claimed that Sony has paused production on the PSVR2 headset until ‘it clears a backlog of unsold units’. This news comes amid a decline in sales which has come about owing to a lack of meaningful content compatible with the device. In a report published by Bloomberg, it was shown how PSVR2 has been on a steady decline since it was released in 2023, being outpaced by the META Quest VR headset.
Stiff Competition
Sony’s PSVR2 headset is suffering in a market that’s still trying to perfect VR technology – and there’s some stiff competition coming into play. There are expectations that the VR market will grow in the coming years, but PSVR2 is lagging somewhat.
In Bloomberg’s article, a quote taken from Yijia Zhai, a Macquarie analyst, reads:
The high price of VR hardware acts as the main hurdle for its expansion. Currently, there are limited games that support VR devices, and that will also lead to lack of motivation for players to purchase VR hardware. This limited content also has a reason – the development cost for VR games is substantially higher than normal titles.
It’s certainly a high price point that’s blocking access to VR technology for most users. Apple’s recent launch of the Apple Vision Pro headset was scoffed at by consumers when it was revealed that the device came with a price tag of $3499. It’s far beyond the $550 price tag associated with PSVR2, but that’s more than the cost of a brand-new PlayStation 5 console, which makes consumers shaky at the knees in most cases.
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