Sony's sold around 915,000 PlayStation VR headsets since launch as of 19th February. That's according to group president Andrew House as part of an interview with the New York Times. While it may not sound like an enormous number in isolation, it's worth remembering that the perpetually out of stock peripheral launched little more than four months ago, and already eclipses the estimated install base of the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive combined.
Moreover, Sony predicted that the unit would hit one million units within its first six months, meaning that it's way ahead of schedule. This actually proves that the device is selling much faster than expected, and makes the stock shortages a little easier to understand.
It's very good news for PlayStation VR, then, which is obviously an extremely expensive proposition. Let's hope the numbers continue to convince developers to pledge their support to the system, because the novelty still hasn't worn off where we're concerned.
[source nytimes.com]
Comments 22
That's good to hear!
Lower overall asking price compared to a decent PC and those headsets probably helps.
Its good news though. As a developer id need a lot more convincing when taking 50+ million or 1 million exclusively...but its good figures. Its nice to see in all honesty.
And Sony predicts 1 million in 6 months. I predicted dropped hard by them within 6 like most stuff. Nice to be wrong for once.
That's great, never expected it'll reach 900k this fast. Still not sold on VR in general though, but this looks a good sign for PSVR.
Owning a PSVR Headset myself, it's such a cool and novel concept that I think will be able to evolve into something even cooler!
The fact that it doesn't require a $1000 PC to run properly probably helps a lot. Still, I would expect mass adoption until more substantive games (like RE7) support it and it comes down in price a bit.
Good news and pretty encouraging. I've always said it is a niche product but for something so expensive and with limited exposure these sales are better then I was expecting.
We need more modes like Resi 7 I think as opposed to full PSVR games only. Less risk for developers and adds a new dimension to games for players.
@Ralizah I was thinking the same thing. It seems like a better option to get into VR, with a with a much easier entry point than the other big names.
VR was always going to be a slow burn but people were convinced that Sony would just drop support of it without any reason.
Great stuff. VR is niche it won't ever do console numbers, but it doesn't mean there isn't a market for it.
Really excited for the future.
I'm a recent adopter but I absolutely love it and its now my favourite way to play games. If the software catches up with the hardware we're in for a real treat
This is definitely a nice surprise, and a good reason for why I haven't actually seen one in stores yet lol.
Hopefully I can pick one up in the next few months!
@CloudNine It's more affordable and less cumbersome, at least. I've heard, purely in terms of the "VR experience," that the Vive is second to none, but there are simply too many hurdles for the average consumer to overcome with that device right now. The same is largely true of PSVR, but I do think that has more room to establish a mainstream presence.
Sony was right to go for the lower price tag, especially when you have a base platform to pair it with - specifically one with a large install base.
Does Samsung's Gear VR not count as domination, being they've sold through 5 million? Not a slight against PSVR, because I do actually have one and enjoy it. So it's a legit question.
Is the criteria for its price point? Or for the market they are targeting? (since mobile gaming isn't quite up there with console/PC gaming yet) or does it have to be a dedicated headset? (one you don't use your phone as the screen).
@Sir_JBizzle Yeah but Gear VR isn't considered a high end gaming device, especially when it seems to be mostly used for just short apps.
@adf86 very true. I'd argue it'd be a very viable alternative if developers put more effort into mobile VR games. After all, it is powered by Oculus. And you're strapping what could equate to a high end device to your face in that it's a phone that's pretty much the same price as a PSVR and PS4 combined.
seeing is believing. if you are naysaying PSVR and have not tried it out, you're missing something special. I love it. My kids love it. My freakin' 70 yr old parents love it. I just showed the Joshua Bell experience to my mom and she had tears in her eyes. My dad tried his hand at fruit ninja and was unbelievable. They both had an amazing time.
There is a surprising amount of content out there, too. A little bit of everything for everyone. (I tried RE7 and actually could not play it because I was scared s***less. It was a library rental so no loss.)
Still to expensive for me I've bought my ps4 last black friday, maybe I'll do the same with psvr, since i work in a shopping mall i can ask for my co workers to save me one theday before, but itit's easy to find ps vr for sale in Lisbon 😊
It's a brilliant start but they need to keep momentum going with the games. E3 will be very important for PSVR, methinks. I love the look of it but I still need a bit more indication that it's going to have quality games in the long term.
I just don't see how these numbers can come close to retaining developer interest or be considered a success beyond the level of an experiment. I think VR is amazing, and would really love it to succeed, but i hope they're not relying on the current consumer market to attract developers.
Not bad considering the stock shortages and the lack of big games for it.
If it gets as much support from Sony as the Vita did initially then I'll be happy, that's not sarcasm either. At this point I can't see Sony bothering to make any/more AAA games for VR, arguably RIGS was AAA, in my opinion it was just trash and nowhere near AAA.
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