Sony Denies Claims of PSVR2 Stock Cuts at Launch

Scalpers must be disappointed.

Good signal by the consumers. You can’t just keep asking these ridiculous prices. It’s still an expansion for your PS5 but it’s more expensive than the console itself.

I hadn't planned on getting one because I think it's far too expensive but in fairness even if I did want one I wouldn't know where to get it (except direct from Sony)

Smyth's or Amazon would be my usual go to place for a pre order and unless I'm missing something neither of them seem to be selling it

Im a big fan of VR. I’ve owned multiple PSVRs, and a Quest, but I’m just not hyped to buy a PSVR2 day one. By the time the PSVR came out I felt like the PS4 had actually been utilized and I was excited for the new tech. I don’t feel the same way about the PS5 because a majority of its games are still PS4 games, there’s also a ton of games releasing from Jan-June and I just don’t feel like I’ve got my money’s worth out of the PS5 yet. It just all hinders my hype for it. Though, I plan on getting one around July when the typical game drought sets in.

I'd love to pre-order one, I'm a big fan of VR gaming. But it's just the price point that, at the moment, this close to the new year, I just can't justify.

@get2sammyb Could be from a technical point of view (value for money). From a gamer’s perspective I just find it way too expensive for something that’s in my eyes a gimmick before I’ve been proven otherwise. For € 200 I might have taken the risk.

I’m sure that’s not realistic at all, but I think a lot of people think this way.

@get2sammyb

I personally think it is over priced. They can dress it up however they like with technical specs etc but at the end of the day it's an accessory for the PS5.

Now when that accessory Costs more than an actual PS5 it's clearly going to price the majority of people out of the game unfortunately.

Im fortunate enough that I could technically afford one if I really wanted one but I just think the overall price (when you factor in the ps5 cost as well) is too high for your average Joe in the street

It needs a stronger library I think. Vr1 did very well at launch because vr in general was a new and exciting concept to everyone. Now we take it for granted. Of all the games I've seen, only horizon is the one I'm excited to try.
Beat saber sure that's important too, but I have that already.
One suggestion, one of the best vr games out there, Asgard's wrath is shamefully in sitting in relative obscurity on the oculus store. Maybe see if meta would want to port that over, it's an ideal system seller with some promotion and meta might be happy to finally make some money from it.
And half life Alex too of course. Big showboat titles like these would convince me to buy.

I still stand by my prediction that this will sell less than psvr1. Alot of people like myself purchased psvr1 only to find it makes them ill no matter what they try. Others found the software support to be lacking big games. So the market for psvr2 will be even smaller, its more expensive than the console itself and we are basically in a global recession

Unverified, and reported by the same journalist who made up a load of nonsense about the production of the PS5 before it's release. The man has been called out on his lies and misinformation from both Sony and Xbox in the past, so until there's an official word from Sony on this it's a nonstory.

Of course this is how journalism works today. Nobody verifies what's being said before reposting it everywhere as fact.

Cost of living inevitably means some things have to be cut back on. Im keen on this as i enjoyed the original, but it will have to wait a couple of years unfortunately.

Takashui Mochizuki is just a.... Did the same before the PS5 launch. Said Sony had revised their numbers down and tried to generate negative press. Sony issued a response saying the figures had not changed. It was him that originally said Sony had the 2 million figure. Now just before launch he's reporting that they've changed the numbers again.

@Futureshark What? Why would scalpers be even buying this? Its not sold out and is freely available.

Stopped reading at Bloomberg

Takashi Mochizuki who wrote the article does have a history of getting Sony figures wrong as Sammy has pointed out, so I'll take this with a pinch of salt for now.

There's no doubt this is a damaging article and I see a lot of folks jumping on the VR is doomed and too niche, it's too expensive, there are not enough AAA games at launch, it should connect to the PC etc. None of which I particularly agree with.
However, it is clear that Sony could be doing more to push marketing of the PSVR2 outside of Blog posts and getting the device in the hands of influencers and journalists (which is also welcome).
The launch period line-up is solid and varied and while there are a lot of ports in there they all look likely to be the very best iterations of that game.
Games like Horizon, RE Village, GT7, No Mans Sky, Kayak VR, Song and the Smoke, Switchback, Walking Dead etc are all high-end VR experiences releasing in that window.

I do believe that Sony could have done a much better job with Marketing the PSVR2. While VR is challenging to advertise the same way as flat-screen games, they simply have not given the air time to both confirmed and unconfirmed titles. I want to see full gameplay drops of a lot of these titles from Sony and talks from Developers. The Perp Games showcase was a step in the right direction but one Sony should be leading with.

I don't think we need any more first-party titles at launch (you wouldn't release God of War & Last of Us in the same month. However, a showcase or direct with some teases for potential upcoming games like Persistence 2, Astrobot, Firewall, Farpoint 2 hopefully Alyx etc just to show potential buyers they are as invested in the PSVR2 future as they have made out to be. It's never going to be as mainstream as their console hardware but it always seems to be a footnote of their plans and just don't really seem committed to promoting it in the same way, as others have mentioned the recent PS5 advertising underlines this.
Demo pods doing cross-country tours and in retailers would be a great way to get this into potential buyers hands too.

I do hope there's a Showcase very soon to address this.

@Darude84 Have a look at the price of other headsets with similar specs....

@Member_the_game @Darude84 while it is not for me, it is also not overpriced. Compared to similar spec headsets out there it is cheaper and Sony is probably losing money on it (at least right now).
However, I don't think we are at the point in time where VR gaming would be massively appealing. People think of it as a gamble and a sideshow, which is why they understandably won't invest more than 200 $/€/£. But it all comes down to technology not being cheap enough to provide immersive enough solution for that price point that would push consumers toward riskier commitment. It's catch 22.

Overall I’m disappointed by Sony marketing surrounding PSVR2 and as a huge fan of VR I have fears they might completely abandon the technology before other companies have success in the space, just like they abandoned the PS Vita before the Switch and in part Steam Deck succeeded.

For example I still don’t know about GT7, will it be completely playable in VR? And what about those cool controllers: will I be able to use them in non VR games, just like I use say the joy-cons? And why not a quick adaptation of at least Killzone 2 and 3, or old Resistance games? FPS and racing games are a blast in VR, even if they’re outdated such as Doom 3.

So yeah great tech but unfortunately not many reasons to buy one at about 1200€ between PS5 and VR, not to mention in some markets it’s still hard to find a PS5 at retail price.

Also, first post here, hi everybody!

@get2sammyb @Darude84 @Member_the_game

Think people are conflating the price of the hardware and the value proposition of the overall package.

The hardware is objectively not over priced when you consider the sum of the parts from which it is made. However, in my view at the moment there isn't really a catalogue of games that's exciting enough for me to jump in just yet. I.e. there's no point having a £530 piece of hardware if there's not much you're looking forward to playing on it.

I'm looking to get involved toward the end of the year, when there will hopefully be more software and an enticing bundle/price drop.

Whether the exact numbers are correct or not the pre-orders have obviously been disappointing for Sony. Originally you could only pre-order by invitation but that obviously didn't sell them out so now the unit is available to everyone and still is. The bigger question is why this is a surprise to anyone? It was blindingly obvious this thing is too expensive. It doesn't matter how much tech you are getting for your money, it is still a luxury that the vast majority of us just cannot justify.

I wouldn't even pay half of what they are asking to be tethered.
Wire = No buy

@xxk7xx The full GT7 game will be playable in VR, it was confirmed by the Polyphony Digital President a couple of weeks ago.

@get2sammyb Totally agree - the timing couldn't be worse, but the value for money is through the roof all the same.

I'll buy it when its £350 - £400 or sooner if i can get it for £20 a month...

@Cikajovazmaj Okay, I'm no expert in this field so it could very well not be overpriced. I'm just talking from a consumer's point of view that has little to none feeling with virtual reality yet. For me it would also be too big a gamble for this price. What if you pay 600 and get motion sickness after 5 minutes?

@Gooseman42 I agree, and I also think it's missing those free tech demos that everyone likes to show their friends, family. etc, like going down to the bottom of the sea, seeing dinosaurs, etc. I think casual people who don't play video games are not going to be able to play something like Horizon, and they could sell a lot by releasing this experiences to more people.

Pre ordered but my heart sank when they revealed PSVR 1 back compat wasn't a feature. Wouldn't have cared much about the price if I didn't have to keep and repeatedly swap between two headsets to have access to my vr library. I can't even have my original PSVR permanently connected to PS5 as it kills HDMI 2.1 support. (who makes these awful decisions). With there being only 3 psvr 2 games I'm anticipating and the lack of compatibility for my old library, it's hard to justify the £610 asking price, (including the controller charge station) I might just cancel my pre order.

I have a bad feeling about this ... I think PSVR2 is going to bomb and bomb bad. There is no hype around this at all , not even from Sony. Idk I see another Vita situation here . Just my opinion, I could be completely wrong as I usually am .

@Darude84
Ridiculous pricing? The price is phenomenal. Sony must be taking a major hit per unit. Only people who don’t know about VR tech think this is expensive.

Regarding the rumours, I can’t say I’m too bothered as I found the expectation that 2 million would be sold at release (a third of the total sales of the last gen unit) was somewhat unrealistic.

I’m just glad I have mine on the way, with a collection of games that justify the price day one regardless of anything else.

If I could try before I buy, then, depending on how it affected me, I would potentially be interested. Problem is, that some standard, non-VR, games can cause me motion sickness. It doesn't happen often, but it can; the Avicii Invector game, for example, I could only play for around 20 minutes before feeling pretty sick, and despite enjoying what I played, I cannot go back to it as a consequence. So, the only reason I haven't bought a VR set is the fact that I worry that were I to buy one, it would give me motion sickness, and then just sit gathering dust as a very expensive ornament as a result. If I could hire one, try it, and establish how it affected me, I would know whether to invest in one or not...

@DukeeDukems A wireless headset requires a battery that degrades over time. It also makes the headset a lot heavier and less comfortable to wear. And you need to keep it charged at all times if you want to pick it up and play at any given time. The addition of a battery also makes it more expensive.

I rather have single wire.

Lines up with my gut instincts about PSVR2.. while the tech is impressive, its just too expensive for many people, esp these days and when theres so few games ready at launch. I dont think it will catch on they way they were hoping it would this time round, but also has been mentioned several times the guy behind this "news" is a proven liar and a hack, so it all remains to be seen.

@Darude84 Never experienced motion sickness when playing the first PSVR. If u do, take a break and then play it again. Have a couple of ginger nut biscuits beforehand.

Ah, yes. Bloomberg. They haven't been repeatedly wrong before, so they're definitely a good source of information.

@Darude84 the price is not ridiculous at all for what you get.

@Fiendish-Beaver Sounds like u would def get motion sickness when using it. Might be better picking up a cheap second hand VR headset not even a PSVR and just seeing how u react to it. Better to spend a little and test. Than spend a lot for it to sit about or even taking a hit when selling it on.

@Member_the_game your comment makes no sense. That doesn't make it overpriced.

They are launching at a time when people here in the UK just can't afford to spend out so much on this no matter how good it looks or plays

@Daleaf
I know, I moved my ps4 pro in another room to use it as a vr station since I didn’t want all those cables in my main setup.

GT7 entirely playable in VR to me is huge, a free update to have the best driving experience ever on any console, then again, not enough hype about it.

IF true, big IF.

Then sadly its DoA.

you would be talking 2.5%-3% uptake on PS5. Big developers wont touch it. no money in it.

VR2 is great tech. but the mainstream dont want VR yet

The problem is cost more than the PS5 if they lower the price when they fix the component shortage. But it does cost less than a Valve Index and the Meta Pro so that's a win for them

@xxk7xx yes, GT7 will be completely playable in VR (apart from split screen for obvious reasons). Sony has confirmed this.

Also, it's not 1200€. It's not directed at people who don't have a ps5 in the first place like the wii was. It's for existing ps5 owners. I understand that not many can afford a psvr2, but adding the cost of a ps5 is unnecessary.

@stvevan you don't necessarily need big developers. Beat saber was a simple concept that has done exceptionally well. Same with many wii games back in the day.

@naruball

Would you care to explain which bit of it makes no sense as it makes perfect sense to me.

It's over priced in the sense that the vast majority of people simply won't be able to afford one or at least can't justify spending that amount of money on an accessory

@get2sammyb yeah we don't know Sony's projections one way or another. One thing for sure is we need a full showcase for what this can do, I mean does the average gamer even know the likes of GT7 will be fully compatible? Let alone the smaller games.

I'm very excited for this but still have many questions myself despite looking for information and as far as sales go, you'd think it'd be on the likes of Amazon etc if they were overly concerned. It would be very strange to reduce production before even trying to sell it outside of their own website

@naruball clearly VR does, because uptake is low across all versions/makes.

beat saber does not make Casuals rush out to buy a 300-1000 setup.

@naruball yeah the price is pretty incredible for what you get, on PC these are much more expensive as is the system to run them

This is going to flop just like the ps vita did

Doesn't surprise me. Marketing has been pretty bad and they needed a big title alongside Horizon to bring a bit more variety to the table. Astrobot would be a huge win

I absolutely love VR and find the price no problem.. but I'm considering cancelling my pre order. Have zero interest in racing and as good as horizon looks, I have no great desire to jump back into that world (despite enjoying the main games). Where's the fun games? Where's the whimsey? Where's the new IP/world built for VR? Where's the demos like playroom VR, or the bite sizes fun like worlds? (Believe Sony shut both studios down - games not violent enough I suppose). On top of that feels like Sony have given up in this thing before it's even launched, no hype nothing. Wake me up when astro bot arrives.. that's if Sony doesn't have that studio making another murder sim or live service nonsense. I miss the old Sony and am not sure it's ever coming back.

I'm looking at buying a new PC for my VR needs at around £2000 - £2500. I already have a Quest 2 priced at around £400. So no this isn't especially expensive compared to that.

I would get it if it worked on PCs as well. I think VR is still hobbyist tech and I don’t want to pay over $500 to be locked into one VR ecosystem. That said, hardware looks pretty awesome and I want to play it.

I like VR but I don’t like it $600/£530 much (plus games). I’m sure there’s a market for it - look at all those ridiculously priced 18+ LEGO sets there are now. But without mainstream appeal you have to wonder if it’s really worth their investment?

I've said since they announced PSVR2 that they should have made a PS4 portable. The technology is available.
With the Switch 2 rumored to not be that powerful, a portable Playstation would do very well.

@Member_the_game the word you're looking for is "expensive", not "overpriced", then.

I think there be a pretty good discount during the holiday season if sales are poor.

@koffing It's not good business for Sony to make it PC compatible due to Steam monopoly on the market.
You'd buy their headset, but all third party games will be purchased from Steam, so no money for Sony.

There are a lot of comments about how for the price people could buy a different platform like a Steam Deck, a Switch, XSX or Series S. That resonates.

@Randinator123 the constant comparisons with psvita are hilarious. People said the same thing about PSVR and yet we're getting a PSVR2, unlike PSvita.

@koffing they are completely difference devices offering vastly different experiences, though. Just like XSX is not necessarily in direct competition with switch.

@naruball

Oh I see, so I've been done on a grammar technicality. Please accept my sincerest apologies.

Either way good to see you admit that you obviously did know what I meant and there was really no need to try to belittle me saying my comment made no sense

@stvevan people here have said they're buying a psvr2 strictly because of beat saber. It's a pretty big deal. As for the asking price, as long as something is popular, people will find the money to buy it, hence the popularity of apple products in any economy.

@Member_the_game Yes, according to yourself, you're right.
Source: you.

As I said all along, at this price PSVR2 is going to flop badly.

Not to mention Sony are taking their core fanbase for granted with their focus on still making last gen games, focus on PC ports and focus in GAAS.

As an early adopter of PSVR and over 100 VR games, I won't be buying this anywhere near launch. You reap what you sow.

@naruball

Now you're the one making no sense, you've completely lost me.

Let's just agree to disagree rather than getting personal

Its too expensive and with few outstanding titles to make it an essential purchase - I'll check in with it in 12 months time

It's disappointing Sony didn't do a State of Play for it.

Few reason why I don't want to pre-order
1) The price is too steep for something I don't use much of. If I used VR a lot then it would be a different story.
2) Didn't want to be early buyer for a headset for same reason as above.
3) Wanted to wait until there's a bigger selection of games .
4) When we go into hotter warmer, I burn up too much with the headset on. Certainly don't need games that make me sweat more

I don't want to see VR 2 going the way of the Vita. If they had made a new handheld I'd be all over that as I'd get more use out of it.

@koffing With all due respect to what these people think, but that doesn't make any sense for me. They are different experiences. I can say the same thing, with the price of an XSX I can buy a PSVR2, or a cell phone, or a home theater.

For me, the only negative point of this whole VR story is Sony's apparent lack of interest in promoting the product, not providing tech demos like the first PSVR, not making a presentation, answering questions, etc. We know its a niche product. But the impression it gives, and I know this must not be the case (I hope), is that it seems that Sony has already given up on the product like others say here, and we don't know if Sony will support the product fully in the future.

I think the future of gaming is portable console like steam deck or switch, not vr.

I did have it pre-ordered, but I cant warrant that kind of money at the moment, my PSVR just collected dust after a while, so until it has a significant price cut, I'll pass.

@Sil_Am (1) Sony could sell it at a profit. (2) Also they can just expect that a large percentage of the user base would not do that but would stick to PS5. (3) The approach I describe would be similar to Sony’s current PC strategy and would help grow the userbase to achieve economies of scale. It’s like when Apple finally allowed Window users to use iTunes and use iPods without a Mac.

@naruball discretionary money is discretionary money. 🤷‍♂️

I’m not surprised. They move kept it low key in a way, and it’s a niche product. Sony’s dumb pre-order directly scheme and needing an email clearly shows they expected more. There people like me who want to buy at a physical store, and they also miss out on the marketing. GameStop and other stores would be promoting and letting people know. Instead they have a niche product where you have to know to buy it already.
They need to set up-preorders, even if not quite at launch, for physical stores ASAP. They need the promotion and ease of access.

@wiiware
Lol, you’ve never used a VR headset have you?

Portable devices have their place, home pancake gaming does also, but I’d no more give up VR after trying it than I would pull one of my eyes out - which would have pretty much the same impact as going back to depthless window gaming.

@koffing The only I way I see Sony making it compatible with PC is seeling the device at 999 dolars, since it´s high end technology, I think in PS5 they are selling or with a loss or without profit, because the 30% cut on the PS Store is the real money maker for Sony in this case.
But it's just speculation on my part.

@koffing They would get money on first party but not third party games, which is like 95% of them, unless they launch their own PC store.
But, let's be honest, nobody would use another storefront on PC. We all know that PC gamers hate every store apart from Steam.

They probably looked at pre orders and had second thoughts. It looks amazing but the price is a killer. The problem is I could buy one now at £530 and then by Xmas it will be £430.

You only have to look at the number of PC ports ready around launch, or on the way to see VR2 is going to have a far bigger library than VR1. It's clearly a lot easier to port for than VR1. So games will come and I'm absolutely convinced it will sell better than VR1, even in the current financial climate.

I personally think it's a good thing Sony are sticking with VR, we need innovation and competition to drive the cost down and provide a better experience.

I'm also puzzled why so many people keep banging on about the cost of it. Objectively it's a good deal if you want a quality VR experience and can afford it. Yes, it's expensive, so are IPhones. Seems to be an attitude that if some can't afford it no-one should. If that were true Apple wouldn't exist!

Could Sony have done a better job of promoting it? Hell yes, it's been a sh1t show.

@LN78
Thank you.

Thank you, @Nexozi, that sounds like a good plan...

The PSVR2 is definitely priced well for the technology inside the product for a similar unit running on PC you would be looking at £1000.00 + and that's before you even look at getting an eye Watering expensive PC to run it on. I do understand that not everyone will be able to afford it and the current economic situation is not helping with that. I have preordered mine because once the vr bug bites there's literally nothing else which comes close to being so immersing. For people out there who have not tried it find a friend or a relative who has a vr headset and give it a go because until you try it's hard to imagine how it feels being inside the game. Anyone who suffers from vr sickness I suggest as soon as you feel ill remove the headset do not try to push through, take a break and then come back to it, after a while you will find you get your sea legs and should not suffer anymore problems it is just a case of your brain adapting to something new.

I somehow doubt there’s people within PlayStation who think predicted numbers are attainable with the way things are. Even Apple are taking a hit with predictions and having to order less parts. It’s a non story in my opinion. Course, that won’t stop desperate YouTuber Mongs to make this out as a Titanic disaster for a company. Costs have gone up, prices followed, customers with less money, it’s a period of stagnation that will taper expectations.

I’m put off buying day one because I can’t get one from somewhere that offers instalment payments.

Until it’s more comfortable and affordable I have no interest in VR. PSVR2 is too expensive to go mainstream and will stay pretty niche imo and I don’t trust Sony to continue to support the medium with strong games.

@Member_the_game not sure what the issue was, I could understand what you were saying easily and I agree with you.

@naruball well of course all those mass Casuals posting on a games site. go figure.

the people that pick up a console for gta/cod/fifa etc, where is the reasons to get VR? sadly none.

until there is VR will stay niche.

@somnambulance You're right but it's all a matter of perspective I guess. I don't really get why people spend £1000+ on an iPhone but they have done for years and still do, granted, not as many in the current financial climate. People just value things differently I guess.

VR is not mainstream, true, but I think it could be as long as the likes of Sony et al take a risk and get new products out there, push the technology and address the issues with it. If it succeeds it will be because early adopters were willing to embrace and fund it.

I've just sold my VR1. Had it since launch but I admit I didn't really use it much. I love the immersion of VR, to me no other game experience can match it. But VR1 was cumbersome to setup and, more importantly, didn't have many games I really enjoyed playing. It was all a bit, well, primitive.

VR2 looks like it'll address a lot of the issues, though. To me it's worth a punt on.

@Fenbops

Thank you.

I think the person in question is just a bit of a WUM trying to get a reaction out of people.

Either that or just a naturally aggressive person with a massive chip on their shoulder.

I'm all for healthy debate but when the insults start flying their not worth my time

@Darude84 The price is not that absurd considering the software. It is almost half the price of similar PC VR headsets and it doesnt require a $500 graphics card.

I do plan on getting one at some point but certainly not at launch. I'm not even specifically waiting for a price reduction, just can't justify one right now. I've only just splashed out and got an actual 4K TV - no more being limited to 1080p for me! And that was around 2/3 the cost of one of these.

Anyway, my point is, cost of living crisis being what it is, many people are probably in the same boat (or worse)

Honestly, it is not about price, since the price is really great for the hardware. Its about poor marketing. No mainstream ads or marketing campaign to show how amazing this headset is and convince people that dont use websites like pushsquare how much of an upgrade this is.

Same "source" reports first 2 million, then to correct the first report, says it's actually 1 million, but frames it as if Sony halved their estimate? Very bad reporting.

@stvevan VR is partly niche because it's expensive, surely? So was gaming once, as you'd know if you were around in the 80's. It took off because it became more affordable.

And no, not everyone is into gta, code and FIFA. I have none of them.

VR is fantastic but has it's problems. Make it easier to use, less expensive and solve the motion issues and it'll be mainstream.

@get2sammyb if we base the pricing on the dual shock edge price, if anything it under priced. And VR2 come with a lot of features that other VR equipment charge a lot more.

@wiiware No thanks, those are not great options. Why would I want a handheld device connected to my TV? A device that can't use the full features of the TV. Would be such a backwards step.

I had one pre-ordered but had a change of heart. Instead I put the money towards an 42" LG C2 that I can use for my PS5 and my PC

@koffing This opens up many more new games and than a Xbox would. I get a couple of games and an inferior controller (no haptics and adaptive triggers.) with this I get something totally new and not at all like what I already have. PS5 + VR is much more diverse than XBSX + PS5.

The reason for this is simple - it costs far too much.
Everyone who saw the specs for this and the price for PSVR 1 was expecting a price of £400 to £450. Owners of PSVR 1 also feel pretty shafted by the lack of upgrades for their games, especially from Sony themselves.

Quite frankly the headset costs too much, there's no incentive for previous gen PSVR owners to upgrade and the available games aren't especially inspiring given the price point.

@SJBUK i am talking about CASUAL players.

the ones that do NOT care about gaming sites.

I bought a PSVR 3 years into its lifecycle and was blown away by the experience but even then it still felt like more of a gimmick than something which would actually challenge the gaming status quo.

PSVR2 looks incredible and the launch lineup seems pretty impressive but as countless have said before it’s a big financial commitment even for the true enthusiasts once you factor in that you need to buy the software as well. I am waiting to see if they are able to transition from the fun but gimmicky experiences of the last generation into fully fleshed out games and will maybe pick it up in a few years if it doesn’t die a death due to low adoption.

22 DAYS TO GO!!!!

So hyped for this. I can’t wait!!!!

There's a much larger market for VR now than when the original PSVR released however I think Sony are on the back foot this time around. The only competition previously were high end PC headsets. Now we have standalone Quest and Pico headsets which, to the average consumer, make more financial sense. Nobody aside from hardcore VR gamers care about foveated rendering.

The shocker is that this was greenlit in the first place.

@KaijuKaiser Yep, it’s going to be awesome. Way more hyped for this than I was for the actual PS5. Haha.

The launch line up is insane. We are massively spoilt for choice, especially with all the free game upgrades and free PSVR to PSVR2 updates.

@Intr1n5ic It's believable, preorders were going to be an invite thing, and you can go online now and just pre order it.

Easiest preorder for me personally having played games for so long I'm kind of getting bored of flat games so was looking for something that adds even more immersion

@Darude84
Do you have any idea what technology is in those glasses? not to mention the new controllers. People really think Sony should sell everything at a loss. Of course it doesn't work that way. Research, Marketing, Manufacturing and parts are not free either. (Although some do think that Sony is a non-profit organization.) If you think it's too expensive, just wait until it comes on sale. That Kayak simulator, Horizon and RE village alone are worth it.

@PlayStationGamer3919
No it's not. Look at the possibilities that PSVR2 offers. Competing glasses for the PC market with exactly the same specs and features often cost double. A Tesla is also more expensive than an Electric Fiat. Why? They are both electric cars, right?

@Phelaidar I agree, the tech for the price is good. But the price is still a factor, money isn't just flowing in the economy right now. I can go to the store and WANT a brand new 70 inch tv that is on sale, and a good price for the hardware, but I HAVE to pay the mortgage and my other bills.

@OmegaStriver what did you do with multiple PSVRs?
Co-op games or were they easy to break?

I have tried a couple of times to pre-order but I just get a super informative 'Something went wrong' error message. That's as useful as saying 'water is wet'.
And as Sony are practically impossible to contact about such things it shall remain un-pre-ordered

I’m really curious about VR2 and I’ve never even tried VR, PlayStation’s or otherwise. I feel like it’s a part of gaming’s future, but I can’t commit to buying one when I don’t really see compelling software yet outside of the Horizon game. (I’m not spending $550 for one game.) and my traditional gaming backlog is huge and I have plenty to play and enjoy so this needs to sell me that it’s that much better than what I already have in droves for free. I haven’t even played Forbidden West yet so I’m not going to jump into Call of the Mountain. 😅 (Although I know it’s a standalone game outside the main series)

For what we’re getting, the VR2 unit is cheaper than the original PlayStation VR. But I saw plenty of people buy a PSVR and use it for a couple weeks and then toss it in the drawer and never get it out again. So I need to see a compelling reason that I’ll use it regularly for years to come.

The price and lack of backwards compatibility will have been factors but in general I think Sony has done a very bad job marketing the device. For example back in 2016 when PSVR1 happened there was a lot of promotion of the device including dedicating a sizeable amount of their E3 press conference to it meanwhile in 2022/early 2023, there wasn't even a Playstation Showcase.

For me it's too expensive. And the lack of some form of Backwards compatibility with my PSVR 1 games is a big disappointment.

Well, there goes that. It was fun while it lasted before launch. I'll put it next to my 2 Vitas when it arrives..... We all know what Sony does to new products that underperform at launch....

Predictable given the price point and lack of marketing in the current economy, but still, I'm slightly surprised just because it seemed like a really solid launch. I can't see them putting much energy into this going forward if this is the result. Not worth the cost when they could to a remake of GoW:R for PS5 along with a Disney+ GoW cartoon.

That having been said, as others pointed out. Bloomberg. This is the same Bloomberg that told us absolutely, positively fersher, Switch Pro or Switch 2 is coming 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023! I'm not sure how much faith to put into anything they say, I think we're eager to believe this one because it lines up with our expectations and what we all kind of knew considering preorders haven't sold out.

This isn't PC where $4000-6000 on your gaming setup is normal, or hi-fi where hi-fi rooms can easily cost more than cars in the $20,000-80,000 range. Purely the domain of rich boys toys. Console players are hard pressed for a $500 machine. Which bodes ill for the future of the platform, which is a shame. I fully expect this to be the last PSVR unless this massively turns around, and I also expect limited support beyond indies again as well if this is the case.

@themightyant Well, there goes that "they're not marketing because they'd sell out to scalpers" theory...... They just suck at this.

@Member_the_game Sony is selling it direct only, until launch. Weird that there's no pre-orders on other sellers, but that seems to be how Sony wanted it. That's also probably hurting because a lot more people would be prone to preorder something at Amazon or Gamestop than having to buy direct from mfr.

@Gooseman42 Heck, Vita got tons more marketing than this with much more launch hype. This marketing reminds me of Gravity Rush. Remember the game that got like a 5 minute trailer in an E3 that they gave two full segments and a post-show deep dive into Days Gone instead of their unique IP, then complained that sales sucked when they more or less stealth launched it in a blog post and moved on? This feels like that.

@thefourfoldroot1 I don't disagree with the "overpriced crowd." If you're already a VR fan and know the price points and the tech and all that you see it's a decent price, because you know you want VR and there's no cheaper route for the quality. That's what moved me over the fence from "wait a year for a price drop" to preordering, when they didn't gouge. BUT for the average person, they're not into VR, they don't care how much the tech is "worth" they see a peripheral for their PS5 that costs more than PS5 to play some niche games in. That's a non-starter from the start. Bottom line is if the peripheral is more than $250-300 they're going to have a VERY hard time selling it in the console space, ever. And that bodes ill for the overall existence of PSVR after this. I'm shocked, but happy, they're doing VR2 because I honestly didn't expect it after how VR1 went. I do NOT expect PSVR3. I think VR at this point will either be the domain of $5000 rigs in PC land for rich enthusiasts, or it'll be something that goes downmarket and novelty for Apple and Facebook users with cheap low quality hardware. Eventually you'll either embrace the pancake, pony up (heh) for the big money PC master race experience, or go down market and appreciate VR phone games on an Apple/Meta set. But we still have this one last gen even if it's only half supported!

I'll enjoy this one while it lasts, but I'm not expecting a future from it.

@Sequel I've always felt VR2 exists in Sonys internal tug of war. Remember pre PS5 launch when Jim was going on about how someday someone else will make VR a hit, and when that happens, they'll be there. "will it be today, no, will it be tomorrow, no, but will it happen someday? We believe that", basically a giant neon sign saying "we're not doing VR until someone else makes it big first", and then like 2 days later Sony Japan posts pictures of VR2 and announces it's coming 2021. I don't think Jim EVER wanted to do VR, it doesn't fit his vision of Playstation that's a synergy of TV, film, and games, in that order, not really about gaming but about media empires, but the Japan hardware division was already half done on it and had to get it out there. I think Japan wants to build a VR presence, Jim just wants a quarterly optimized media portfolio. Lack of marketing means he wants to kill it because it's not his product. Just like everything Shaun and Shu were doing. We need Kaz back

@grapetrap That's their POINT. They did. And thus nobody bought it.

Its funny how this has descended into those who think it should be much cheaper (highlighting ignorance of the tech involved and its cost) those who say bloomberg are chatting crap. And those who are defending the product quite funny honestly. But its clear that some wanted this to fail straightaway and others can't release that this is a dualsense edge type situation.

@Daleaf
Horror done well is hard to handle in vr… RE7 is definitely one of the best games for psvr v1.

Anyway prices will go down eventually, other companies are entering the vr space - there are talks about Apple ready to launch its headset - so I think the tech should be here to stay, although perhaps it’s not mature enough yet.

@Th3solution Fair enough points but until you've tried it you're not going to find a compelling reason to get one. It'll either be a 'meh', 'yuck' or 'omg this is awesome' moment. If it's an 'omg', well, who knows how long that'll last. Bit like many 'omg' moments, though!

Of course having the opportunity to try it for those on the fence would be nice, Sony need to get them into stores.

@NEStalgia The original VR headset sold about 5 million and Sony considered it a success, it also launched late mid cycle. Its clear that sony are finding money somewhere from these headsets and are willing to push it. But given that many have struggled to even buy a PS5 potential customers are going to be ruled out for a while.

@Yozora146_ I don't think there's much in the way of people trying to 'defend' it as such, just trying to inject some balance.

People have as much right to be enthusiastic about it as not.

@Yozora146_ I'll be the lone defender of Edge. Edge isn't a failure. I expect it's selling exactly how they intended it to sell. It's a specific product for a specific market, that is astronomically overpriced, but the problem is the competitors are all playing at the same price. That's a product intended to play in a red ocean and cannibalize licensed partners and bring parity to rival Xbox Elite, PSVR is meant to play in a blue ocean and create a VR market from within the PS consumer base (and pull in some of the PC VR market due to price point.) FWIW, the similarly expensive Xbox elite controller spent much of it's life from elite 1 and even well into Elite 2's life sold out and on backorder waiting for the next shipment at Amazon much of the time. They don't make tons of them, but the ones they make, they sold. Supply has been regular for a few years, but I fully expect Sony is selling to exactly who they expect to be selling to.

I think it's unfortunate that a premium controller cant' come down a lot in price and that console players don't care more about their input devices, but such is where it's stuck.

Which part of Sony considered VR1 a success? Sony Japan, or Jim? Kaz and Kodera or.....Jim? That's just it, I don't see Jim thinking 5 mil hardware units is successful at all, it's not HIS PS vision at all. Sony Japan? Clearly someone thought it was successful enough.

@SJBUK of course. I'm not hating on anyone, it was just unexpected on this site to find a rough balance in opinions I expected most were against the product given how most don't like the dualsense edge.

@naruball
“It's not directed at people who don't have a ps5 in the first place”

What?

But yeah, the price for those interested in psvr2 is at least 1200€, whereas last gen it was around half -600€ - at peak prices, 300 € at the cheapest. So it’s a big difference when you’re trying to push a technology that is very hard to market in the first place.

Edit: of course I’m talking about console+vr, this is in the same space as the Quest, so this makes sense.

At the end of the day it doesn’t matter if you think this is affordable or not. What matters is the general public. I see people saying the tech is worth the cost or comparing it to luxury items like private jets. That’s all well and fine, but if I’m running a game studio am I going to risk going bankrupt by focusing resources and money for the “private jet” crowd? Or am I going to spend it on a PS5 install base that’s significantly bigger and more lucrative?

Thus kicks off a chicken-and-the-egg scenario: big price ticket, but no one committing to games because the audience is too small.

There’s a reason that even some of the biggest PlayStation fans, like the Kinda Funny crew and IGN Beyond, are very tepid on this device. I loved my PSVR1 but support fizzled out abruptly once publishers realized it wasn’t worth the investment. And the PSVR2 is facing an even bigger uphill battle, sadly.

@SJBUK Absolutely agree. And I think I saw @Jaz007 mention it above. This is the kind of product that needs to be in stores and need to have demo kiosks if possible. I just can’t take a $500 fly on something I’ve never even experienced! 😄 Who does that? I guess some do, but the barrier to entry is just too high.

I fully suspect that if/when I try VR2, I’ll love it. And I’ll probably want one. But I have too many other games and too little time and money to throw it around on a suspicion.

@Yozora146_ Fair play, see what you mean. I've often found saying anything positive results in being called a 'defender' or 'shill', gets a bit tiresome.

I'm definitely not in the market for an Edge, it's not for me, can't see any appeal in it at all. Happy for those who are, though!

@NEStalgia

I didn't realise Sony were only selling it directly to begin with. It does seem a rather odd move.

Surely allowing the big retailers to sell it as well would automatically drum up more publicly.

Most of us regular visitors to this website will know doubt know all about the PSVR 2 but there will be plenty of people out there that probably don't even know that it exists

@EvenStephen7 Is it facing as big an uphill battle, though? Given the Move control system I think it was much harder to port to the VR1 than it is now for the VR2. Especially as the PS4 didn't quite have the grunt to run many of the full-blown PC titles. It just wasn't worth the effort.

Now we're in a position where the PS5+VR2 combination is capable of running pretty much anything the PC can, with decent tracking, hand controllers and a much more compatible API (I suspect).

Time will obviously tell but I'm far more optimistic for VR2 than I ever was for VR1.

@get2sammyb I could yet be proven wrong but this is the type of tech where I don't see a price drop in the foreseeable future if at all. I was lucky to have the PSVR for a two week trial courtesy of Sony when it originally released but sent it back as I wasn't quite onboard despite a few great titles. This time I pulled the trigger. I like games and gaming tech and want to experience what Sony have clearly invested significant capital into. Of course VR will be better in the near future but as I get older I want to experience what is, like you said, cutting edge now.

@Member_the_game Yeah, the direct sales thing is almost certainly a response to the preorder disasters of the PS5, so sort of a fair play, but they overestimated demand for PSVR2. First making it invite-only, then dropping the invite and taking unlimited orders (1 per household limit), and now not even selling through. I guess, if they hadn't done that and it was a scalper circus with an Amazon launch we'd all be blaming Sony for not doing more to curb scalpers, so it's a catch-22.... But yeah, right now, direct sale only which is certainly hurting sales as the average consumer that's not a PS enthusiast doesn't even know this thing exists or is up for sale. No marketing, no retailer presence, hype, or preorders....it only exists if you get Sony's direct emails and/or follow Playstation news on purpose. So in that sense, things will absolutely pick up once the general public even knows it exists and sees it in a Walmart ad. Right now it literally doesn't exist at all to the average PS5 owner, let alone the non-PS5-owner. It only exists to the enthusiasts that follow online PS news. Then again, is there another market for VR?

They did the same for the Edge controller, it was direct preorder only, then direct sale only from 1/26, to I think 2/23 where it will finally go to retailers.

@themightyant AFAIK they're going to start selling through retailers at launch, or shortly after, it's just preorders that were exclusively through them, presumably because they were trying to avoid a PS5 type disaster of Walmart breaking embargo and all heck breaking loose. With much lower demand that backfired this time, but their heart was in the right place I guess.

But yeah, it should be in retailers, depending on inventory, either end of this month or sometime next month. I think Edge had a 1 month delay between launch and when they should arrive at retailers.

Wow, in the US we have 30-day warranties but 30 day return windows.... But yeah, from everything I've ever heard, never, ever, ever deal with Sony customer service, like, ever.....

This thing doesn't even need to have a larger launch than a million units. Compare it to their TV division, which sells between 1.5 and 2.5 million units per quarter and their target audience for those are billions of people.

Launching with a million units to a much smaller pool of buyers is huge.

This being said, I don't trust the article at all. The guy has a reputation of spitting out things that aren't true for clicks.

@Th3solution Heh, not me for one. Knew I really wanted a VR1 but had to try it first. Was with the wife at the time, she saw my reaction and pretty much nagged into buying (lucky or what!).

Difficult times at the moment but I'm in a position where I can afford a VR2.At the end of the day it's a years worth of smokes or beer for some, neither of which I partake in. So what the hell.

dead in the water, especially with the lack of a free upgrade on most psvr software. if sony thinks a small group of nerdy enthusiasts will be enough to sustain psvr2, they are sadly mistaken. this product will need a significant price cut by the end of the year (minimum of 30%) for it to be even remotely competitive and sustainable going forward. i don't think there was a single vr projection that was correct over the past 7 years — they all got it wrong as far as the technology's influence and impact on the future of gaming.

@NEStalgia

I think a good solution would have been to allow the retailer's to sell it and market it for them but to only allow in store over the counter pre orders.

I appreciate that wouldn't work for the likes of Amazon but it would certainly help stopping the Scalper situation if you had to physically go to a store to order it. Nothing to stop people pre ordering from more than one store but it certainly makes things harder than doing it online from various different websites

In terms of buying one I think this is something that many would pay for in installments like they do with the PS5 console itself. The fact that's its only being sold on PS direct and not amazon etc isn't going to help. In all honesty I didn't think VR 2 would sell even 1 mil in its first year let alone 1 quarter. An yes I've got mine ordered as well.

It's 4 years out of date before it launched. Don't know how PushSquare thinks this is "the next big step" when it's so far behind what's currently happening in VR.

@NEStalgia
I don’t know about that. I just can’t see something as wonderful as VR dying. I have to figure that once all these kids get bored of the same repetitive flat games, once they are no longer interested in social sandbox hangouts, or their peers have grown up and had families which take their time; once they get to the position I was in a few years ago when they crave something new; when they want to escape dreary reality and become immersed in new worlds; surely then they will embrace VR. They have to. It is quite literally adding a new dimension to gaming. The ok boy new thing being added to gaming.

Of course they may also have more money when they reach that stage in their lives, but I doubt that actually makes much difference (because when these kids / “gamers” have multiple consoles doing 99% the same thing, and phones costing twice as much as this headset, it’s no longer about money as much as priorities).

I dream that one day children will laugh at us when we tell them about how we looked at a little depthless window on the wall, in the same way they’d laugh about Walkmans, pagers, and the like.

Think I’ll cancel mine now

I think it's cutting edge tech so the price is correct (sort of) and I'm very interested in it but I'm not willing to take one for the team, sorry 🤷

I will watch closely the reactions and the games that begin to pop up, once I see there's a very good amount of games with much more to come I will jump in.

@SJBUK True that. I certainly have wasted more money on less significant things, for sure. The money is there if I really wanted it. Probably my most valuable commodity is time though. That’s something I don’t have much of. And do I want to drag myself away from my PS5 and PS4 during the few hours a week I have to game?
It’s the same issue I have with getting a Switch. I’m sure I’d love having the unit to play some of the awesome games on it, but the opportunity cost of leaving my PS5 behind for a few hours a week makes it hard to make the investment into another ecosystem. With HFW, GoW Ragnarok, and Elden Ring all yet to be played, and now Hogwarts Legacy, Jedi Survivor, RE4, FF16 coming in the next few months… it’s an embarrassment of riches in gaming right now and VR2 is just one more thing to add to a heavy backlog burden.

I don't know who this guy (reporter) is, but mission accomplished. Everyone is now claiming it's a dead product and hasn't even been released yet. Is the marketing horrible? Yes. Is the product great, does it have potential, are many people excited (including me)? Yes again.
It's a niche product, a steering racing wheel is a much more niche product than that, and Logitech keeps making it.
Perhaps 5 million units is considered low sales for many people, perhaps for Sony 5 million is clearly a huge success. If they manage to sell 1 million units, with a lot less PS5 on the market than PS4 at the same time, it will be considered great.

Another L for Bloomberg.

Twice now that Bloomberg has made claims against Sony's business, only for Sony to publicly deny them. Bit dodgy.

Would Sony ever confirm something like that? Absolutely not.

This is absurd you believe a corporate PR statement over journalism....

Bloomberg has nothing to gain from reporting this. Sony absolutely has much to lose in terms of hype and general discourse if they were to ever suggest a cut in production related to disappointing preorders/sales projections.

Those announcements affect stock prices along with many other things.

Stop being so gullible and a voice for the corporatocracy.

@xxk7xx what indeed. PSVR2 is for those who already have a ps5 or plan on getting one anyway. So, the cost is the psvr2 alone.

@Porco most of the games being ported over from psvr1 have free upgrades?

@Gbarsotini why will 1M sales be considered great? All it will mean is we won't get a steady flow of AAA games. This had to sell 10M+ in it's first couple of years, at the price it is we'll be lucky if it sells 10M before the PS6 is out.

@ShogunRok I mean it would be very odd for Sony to cut production before the thing is even out and they haven't even tried selling it outside of their own website, or indeed have any kind of significant marketing push

Bloomberg - if there are no news, we'll make some up for you.

@TrickyDicky99 I'm just guessing, but when the first PSVR came out, there were around 70 million PS4s on the market. If PSVR2 manages to sell 1 million this year and another 1.5 million by March 2024, with 30 million (40 next year, or more) PS5 on the market, I would consider it a huge success. Again, we don't know what would be a big hit for them, but if you take those numbers into account, maybe 1 million is, and for a niche device like this we should lower our sales expectations.
Anyway, the news has already been denied by Sony, we will only know the success or otherwise of the product after launch.
I'm also concerned about future game releases and I don't think we'll always have games like Horizon, but Capcom are always supporting, maybe we get Half Life Alyx, I don´t know, but I´m excited. And this will be my first VR.

@somnambulance Yeah, Meta. I'm not convinced that the Metaverse will be a thing for quite some time and the negative press isn't helping VR in general. It's one thing to game in VR, another to spend hours working and shopping in it. Not appealing to me, anyway.

As for the current state of the world, sure, I can see a lot of people turning away from investing in high-end tech. It's just not a priority. Though I wonder how many may go for 1 big ticket item rather than a few lower-end ones.

Personally, I'm fed up with this murky, re-release / paid for updates of games from gen to gen. I don't want to have to keep reburying games I already own. I have a bunch of vr games built up from plus and other deals that I thought would be worth keeping for PSVR2, then it all become a mess of maybe-maybe nots. Add in the high cost and I couldn't be bothered in the end.

It's such an expensive risk to take too, not knowing if I'll get used to the dizziness or not. If there was a way to trial run the device for a few weeks I'd probably give it a go, but that's understandably not feasible. It has far too many roadblocks imo.

@TrickyDicky99 PSVR2 was NEVER going to get a steam of AAA games. $5000 PCVR rigs don't get streams AAA games. Alyx is still the "biggest" thing around followed probably by NMS which we have. That's just not the market VR is in right now.

@KundaliniRising333 Nobody's more skeptical of corporations and Sony in particular at this moment than I, but there's something to be said for the fact that Bloomberg, in gaming has been repeatedly way off the mark for Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo all. Something stinks in Bloomberg's sources or standards, as they seem to be regularly coming up with bogus news that happens to be harmful to all 3 console MFRs. Either bad sources or agendas somewhere. Maybe a bigger question is who would want to hurt the entire console market, and how are they connected to sources?

@WillMerfi Seriously? I have never received ONE email from Sony for PS5 or for PSVR2 despite signing up for notifications about both! I did preorder one once the invites were dropped, but Sony just never shows me the love when there's invites. No ads, either. I'd say I don't get sony emails, but I got everything from the actual orders, and I get the PSN emails and the like.

@thefourfoldroot1 That's the thing though, I don't think the human psyche gets bored of social hangouts and repetitive gambling-like tasks. I think industry has found the right hooks to plug directly into human behavioral base needs and it will still for 10,000 years with little change. Gambling hasn't changed much between Julius Caesar, and Caesar's Palace. Humans are very malleable.

People like low-effort distractions. Swiping away on their phone is low effort, seemingly low cost distraction (even if it adds up, they don't know it, that's the secret to the credit card industry), wearing a $600 strap in device is high effort. And non social. And some humans for reasons you nor I can comprehend like being surrounded by and observed by humans. Look the round mockery around Meta's "Metaverse" idea. Nothing Zuck does is ever wrong even spying on you 24/7 and selling your info to psych profiles, but VR? Then he's public enemy #1.

@TooBarFoo Errr....huh? It's a step or two behind the $1500 Quest Pro, I'll give you that....

@Member_the_game I, personally, hate that model even more and hope it never goes there, but for PS5s a lot of stores did drop the online sales and shifted to in store, really just to get you in the store to buy other things. Last time I was in a physical store for electronics was probably 8 years ago, lol. A lot of people do still like it, but retail is kind of an odd thing in the US, ever since eCom took over, though really a lot of it predates that and is due to Walmarts monopoly, retail pulled out of where people actually live (where real estate is expensive) and relocated to centralized regionalized shopping districts (where real estate is cheap) that are 20-40 minutes away from where most people live, so 40min to over an hour round trip all to get to one of our 4 remaining large stores that only carry minimal selection and tell you you can order the rest online to pick up at the store...(no thanks.) I don't plan on going retail shopping more than once a year, just for amusement. Which is why even the few remaining stores keep closing.

My turning point was when I bought a toilet seat in off-white from a store one year. They had about 5 or 6 colors. Returned the next year to buy another, and they had only white. Rows and rows of white. I asked about it and they told me that they only carry the most popular version of things, but I could order more products online and have them delivered to the store......... (In my best Frey voice) "So let me get this straight......."... I just traveled an hour round trip to buy a thing and I get to the store and the store tells me I can't actually get such things there, I can only get it if I order from my couch....and then travel an hour round trip to pick it up? So I just ordered on Amazon, got it 2 days later for $5 less and never left the couch. At that point I was kinda done with physical big box stores for life. They now exist as convenience stores for if you don't want to wait for online and are willing to pay more and get the option you don't want.

But yeah, in this case it may have drummed up more sales.

@Treestar That's a good contrast to the TV division, though IDK that anyone even inside Sony would call their TV division successful at this point, PS and batteries have been propping it up for a decade now. But it's a good point for perspective regardless, as the TV business doesn't have any add-on revenue from TVs, where VR has the continuous game sales added on.

@themightyant I don't know this reporter, and I'm sure he must be a serious person. But the timing of the news, along with Sony's horrible-to-non-existent campaign, did a great harm to the release. Perhaps Sony will wake up and start devoting more time to the new product.
Maybe we have to get used to this new Sony, because not even the new subscription service was well explained or publicized by them.

@Th3solution Sounds like you got plenty to occupy yourself with, makes sense to get through that lot first. Not much has taken my fancy for a while, so I've not really got any backlog. Bit stuck and frustrated with GT7 at the moment and don;t have hours to improve. Going back to some of the easier races in VR really appeals. I've been more taken with some of the up-coming VR games, so different proposition for me.

As long as everyone's happy it's all good

@TooBarFoo How?

If bloombergs report was to get people talking about it I'd say it worked.

@Gbarsotini TL;DR: #Ryanout?

@ShogunRok I mean, you KNOW something must be off about the article when Sony says anything at all, because Sony currently says nothing about anything even if it's good for them, so to actually draw them to comment says something.

@NEStalgia Hahaha, exactly

@SJBUK Absolutely. It’s great to have options, and I applaud Sony for continuing to explore in the fringe spaces. They get beat up in the online gamer comment space as being ‘one-note’ and only making ‘narrative third-person action-adventure games’, but clearly people are only looking at their big sellers. They do a lot of other things too — like VR and your aforementioned GT.
(Off subject but I really quite enjoyed GT7. I’d still be playing it weekly if not for my backlog because they have consistently added cars and some events and a track now and again. Phenomenal game.
As a tip — I was almost to the end of the menus when I realized you can adjust the AI difficulty, so if you’re struggling, you can go in to the settings on your account tab and you should be able to find a way to put it on ‘easy.’ I cleared about 75% of the game on normal before I realized that and I turned down the difficulty and was winning every race pretty easily after that point. A couple late races were tough on normal)

@NEStalgia hahaha.. in short, Sony marketing sucks, the reporter, while with (I hope) good intentions, did some harm, PSVR2, if we lower our expectations, will sell fine.

i feel like the issue is you can only order from one place right now. you can't go to amazon , walmart , target , or best buy and preorder one yet. even some one like me who is excited and actually wants one , is still a little held back and i'm waiting for some more announcements. i waited a few months for the last headset i could do the same for this. does any one know if this will support 3d movies like the first one did or not?

@NEStalgia
I understand the ease point, but it kind of doesn’t hold up for top level experiences. Otherwise, nobody would go to the hassle of flying to foreign lands on holiday for example (which VR could accommodate to some degree by the way), or go to concerts instead of listening to Spotify (which VR could accommodate to some degree by the way), or go to the footy when they could watch it on TV (which…you get the idea).
As for the social aspect…VR can be far more social than pancake gaming online, especially with eye tracking, face tracking, body tracking eventually…
I’m starting to think some peoples actual problem is they don’t want to look nerdy with a VR headset. But we got over that type of emotional weakness in the 80s, so I’m sure we could again.

@Gbarsotini a huge success for who? If playing a load of indie games is a huge success for you then congratulations on your success.

I'm not surprised preorders are disappointing. I plan to wait a solid 2 years to decide on this. I need to get a sense of their long term software plans. I wasn't impressed with the catalog of psvr1. If it's not substantially better I will save the $550.

@KaijuKaiser plus Nintendo. Not sure if this reporter or not but Bloomberg has been one of the cheerleaders of "Switch Pro" with "sources on hardware" backing up the obviously repeatedly false claims.

@TrickyDicky99 A great success for Sony, unfortunately I don't own the brand.
Maybe you should be less emotional (it´s just a hobby), calmly read the whole conversation and learn context.
But if you consider Horizon, Resident Evil, Gran Turismo indie, that's up to you.

@neonpizza @NEStalgia @Octane The two main reasons it is out of date.. Wired, WIFI-6 can stream visuals sub 6ms. Quest 2 has been out years and handles PC wireless streaming. Next giant issue is Fresnel lenses. What is the us of Foveated Rendering when the sweet spot of your lens is only in the centre. I play a lot of VR and after trying pancake Lenses the difference is night and day. There is no comparison with image quality. They also produce a headset half the size. Quest 3 is due this year, confirmed to cost between $300 to $500, confirmed to have pancake lenses, eye tracking and will have both wireless PC and stand alone function. Pico 4 is already out, no eye tracking but wireless PC / Standalone and pancake lenses, yours for $350. PSVR 2 is a perfect 2019 VR headset coming out in 2023 at almost twice the price of the competition.

@Sakai but there's people like me who waited for a high quality set and didn't go near vr1, but are all in on vr2.....can't wait!

@Th3solution Oh for flips sake, it didn't even occur to me I could tweak AI difficulty. I've not been able to get higher than 4th in some of the GT Cup races (Suzuka I hate you), it's been doing my head in. One mistake and it's all over. I'll checkout the setting when I get a chance.

@Porco I don't understand why people never see the bigger picture.

This thing is very much alive and as much as PSVR 1 was the best-selling VR headset of all time, PSVR 2 will be the next. This thing has pure PC enthusiasts looking to hop on over due to the technology and features.

The vast majority of the owners of the PSVR 1 will hop on over eventually. It will lead many new owners to purchase a PS5. Just because you feel like it isn't for you does not mean it isn't for tens of millions of people.

@thefourfoldroot1 Actually I'd argue all the examples you mentioned are driving primarily by the SOCIAL aspects of those activities and not the activities itself. The same way that restaurants are no longer about the food bout about the atmosphere and how "instagramable" they are. It's all about social everything, and more to the point, it's about getting the pat on the back for being successfully ahead of or in line with the social tribe.

VR is quite literally the opposite of all that, which is why we like it, and why they don't.

I get the argument that VR can be social, but I don't think anyone sees it that way. Not the VR enthusiast that kind of likes VR because it's NOT social, and not the outside observer that doesn't like it because it doesn't look social. After Zuck the king of voyeurism socialization tried to make the case of VR as the future of social, and got pretty much crushed by the masses, I don't think "VR is social" is going to fly for many years (at least until the Apple headset comes out and suddenly it's trendy, but they're pushing AR more than VR supposedly.) A really, really (really) bulky Focus if you will.....

And yeah, people definitely don't want to look nerdy with it, and I mean even as a VR fan I looked at youtube videos of a couple of the launch games and saw the presenter flailing around in their Quests, and....there's no way for that not to look bad. Again, at least until Apple releases theirs and it's suddenly trendy because Apple and Gucci go together like Bloomberg and fake news.

@neonpizza @TooBarFoo The lenses are a genuine issue, fair. The rest, I'm not so sure about. Wireless vs wired has pros and cons, and I'm not sure it's a "better/worse" comparison. Wireless introduces battery charging issues, weight, heat, and limited lifespan. But more importantly wireless even with wifi6 (which is not generally adopted yet by most people or even devices), the nature of radio transmission remains imperfect and always will be just due to the nature of physical radio. It may not be as latency constrained but will remain bandwidth constrained as far as ultra high res video is concerned, requiring significant compression for transmission, artifacting, and is still prone to interference which is just nasty in VR. Sure in ideal conditions it may work fine, but that hits a wall when you send mass market products out to non-enthusiast consumers that will not be grooming ideal environments. Wireless is fine for less high-res content, but once you start pushing at the bandwith, radio tends to bite back. I agree, I like the concept of wireless for sure, but I'm not sure wired is inherently a negative, it comes with positives as well.

In some ways it goes back to conversations like the Edge and pro controllers as wired vs. wireless. Wireless is my preference but in competitions there will never, ever be wireless controllers in play, too much potential interference issues, delays, etc, even though wireless and wired now have almost identical latency specs theoretically under ideal conditions. VR may not be competition, but frame issues and artifacting issues can be really really nasty in VR. Wired avoids that.

I'm not worried about the "bulky form factor" since it's a console-tethered device. It's not like anyone's out at Starbucks using this thing like the Apple set will be.

@KaijuKaiser Push Square could do better but they just report news. There is usually a 50/50 chance that they're incorrect or right. In this case it was probably 75/25 😂😂

I think Bloomberg by name alone convinced them. Sammy B did say take with a pinch of salt though.

@Dr-M Bought the original. Then they released one with HDR pass through, so I bought it and gave the first one to my kids. We own multiple PlayStations and Xbox systems that way we can play everything together.

@NEStalgia
Maybe, but “social” gaming is basically just like being on the phone with each other while playing a multiplayer “game”, VR can be the next phase of social gaming where people can actually really see each other, look at each other properly, etc, at real scale. For people who like that I’m sure it would be a great experience, and the increased importance of virtual clothing and cosmetics etc must be a real money spinner…

I would also say the idea of exploring a new country, visiting a concert etc, with dozens of friends is usually just not practical in real life.

But yes, I take your points, while it’s not promoted in such a way, and people who haven’t experienced it just see people flailing around looking goofy, those with minimal imagination may be difficult to sell to.

Resuming in one word: COPY!
From forza horizon. Yeah ok will be a good game i guess but dont expect some new features because for sure all will remember forza horizon i guess.
And trust me if you are a gamer. A real gamer like me, what matters is games, not consoles. I have both consoles and i like when they try do something like that. Better games always. Well lets hope the crew fest... Be a good game. right?

@NEStalgia WIFI -6 has 9.6 Gbps, PS5 USB has 10Gbps bandwidth. You'd have to go a lot further than the PSVR-2 wire to drop low enough for that to make any difference. And a WIFI 6 dongle cost £30, not a big investment.

PSVR-2 weight 600g, Quest 2 weight 530g so weight not looking good. And with the big lenses out front the balance is not going to match other 2023 VR units. I'm guessing Quest 3 will be about 600g with the battery on the back like the quest pro for balance.

The battery may run low after a few hours of play but you can play and charge at the same time when you need to. Same as controllers for the last few generations but none of us are claiming wired controllers are the future.

Your points just don't match the facts. They would have a year or two ago but that is why I said the PSVR-2 would have been the perfect headset in 2019. It is full of 2019 features with added eye tracking.

@neonpizza you talk about image quality but with a Fresnel lens it can only ever be bad. A PS5 is equal to a 2070s not 4090. Just because you discount PC gaming does not negate the millions of PC gamers. And a PSVR-2 attached to a PC will give you 2019 visuals, no matter the GPU, again old lens tech. Of course you'll only have to take 3 steps and untangle the cord to switch your headset over to something modern. And RE village is great in VR, played a while back. PC mods

@TooBarFoo
Theory and stats on weight only goes so far. Everyone I’ve heard / seen try it say it is the most comfortable headset, and feels incredibly light due to it balance. Its cable is also ridiculously thin, light, and flexible compared to other headsets.
I can link you to some videos and impressions if you want.
Don’t know why you keep going on about how it looks though. You can’t see it when it’s on

@theMEGAniggle do you honestly believe vr is in a healthy place right now? just because psvr1 sold well relative to its competitors does not mean it sold well in the grand scheme of things. vr hardware and software sales are a drop in the bucket against the gaming industry at large. vr is beyond niche. the entire vr industry has a chicken and egg problem — there are not enough users to justify software development and the software is not noteworthy enough to justify a purchase of the hardware. how many vr games are influential enough to sell someone on vr and its outrageous asking price? for most gamers, it is a gimmick worth experiencing once and forgetting about (in its current state). those who enjoy the vr experience, all the power to them, but the tech is clearly going through growing pains and may be a decade away from being anything noteworthy and worth investing in. until that happens, it will be a niche technology that limps through irrelevancy.

@thefourfoldroot1 From your lips to Zuck's ears. IDK, people...maybe what they like most about the social gaming space which, I agree, is like teenage girls on the phone in the 70's & 80's, but with guns, but the relative anonymity of talking to their friends but not to personally, and it gives them the freedom to be unsociable.

What you describe is Zuck's metaverse....he believed in it, and while I loathe a planet in which Zucks is allowed to live without having his eyelids stapled open and being tied up in a desert, I actually liked his idea for once.... Kinda wanted his vision to succeed (I have a bar of soap for my mouth ready, don't worry.) I'm shocked at how roundly and completely it was rejected. But....it was. I don't think the world wants to live in a VR helmet virtualizing anything, yet loves swiping at 2D screens while talking on the phone. I don't get it, but I gave up on trying to get anything about humanity a long time ago which is why I have a PSVR2 helmet on preorder to shut myself into and pretend they don't exist.

@TooBarFoo Theoretical under optimum conditions, yes. But radio is radio, and radio. It never works anywhere close to the theoretical in real world conditions.

Obviously, not wifi6, but lets not forget Nintendo's famous "don't put your switch near a fish tank" warnings when controllers were dropping out. Not the same tech but that's just what we're dealing with with the nature of radio. 5g not to the rescue. I do get you point and again in a pristine environment, that's all fine and good, but we're talking mass market consumer products, where that PS5 may be behind a fish tank and then Sony support has to deal with the complaints of video causing nausea in PSVR2 that's actually because of cruddy wifi interference and would have been avoided with a wire. Occulus doesn't have to worry about this because they're using a low performance internal computer for the masses, no wifi needed, and enthusiasts that tweak the environment for the dedicated PC users.

Edge is claiming wired controllers are the future though, lol. It's just a Sony thing

There's some amount of fair points on Quest 3, but let's not compare apples and oranges. If you're comparing the HMD and ONLY the HMD then the Quest 3 has some better features with no wire and better lenses, sure. That's really MOSTLY what it has going for it, but I'll grant that that can be important. I'm not sure wired v wireless is a fair comparison though for the above reasons. But beyond that we're still down to comparing PSVR with PCVR, and omitting that a $500 PS5 to drive it, we'll even say $650 PS5 to drive it if we move the price difference of the HMD over, is a LOT more obtainable than the gaming PC to drive similar performance. Especially when the HMD's main differences are the battery and the lenses.

And of the PC enthusiast market, how many will just run it wired ANYWAY to ensure no wireless issues?

@Gbarsotini I don't consider Skyrim, Hitman 3 or Resident Evil 7 indie, but in 6 years of PSVR being in the market we only have a handful of AAA games, and with those sale numbers you quoted it will be the same again for another 6 years

@thefourfoldroot1 My comment on weight was a response to the fact that wireless needs a battery and is heavy. All these headsets are going to comfy and easy to wear. But having a battery is not going make it any less comfy but weight distribution does come into play after a few hours. I woken many a time with a sour neck from to many hours VR. I have said a word about how it looks?

As long as I get mine. Launch number production are great.

@NEStalgia 😂😂 I believe there would be a whole movement out there for wired controllers. How could there not be.

I have a index and quest 2, I only play PC VR, or at least 95% PC VR and I use the quest 2 almost exclusively even though the Index has better lenses just because it's wireless. At least for myself I will never buy another wired VR headset. But yes, different people will prioritize differently

@NEStalgia
You and me both. Still, I’ll be enjoying Horizon, Resi8, Pistol Whip, NMS, Demeo and maybe Kayak Mirage and Moss 1&2 on launch day. Shame switchback was delayed but that’s been pre ordered too. So much to play on the 22nd It’s ridiculous.

@TooBarFoo
Sorry, replying to too many people. Clearly mixed you up. Apologies for attributing such a ridiculous thought to you.
On comfort, when other headsets practically require purchase of an additional aftermarket strap, I don’t think we can rely on anything.

@thefourfoldroot1 I still haven't decided all of what I'll be playing, I'm hoping Push has a light review round up for "everything" at launch. Horizon, Moss 1 & 2, GT7 are my definite, I SHOULD buy NMS but since I have it on XB I figure I shoudl wait for the next time it's on deep sale on PS to re-buy here. But among the many other smaller games I don't know enough about them to chose! That one that mixes portal with SotC sounds interesting though.

@thefourfoldroot1 No harm, no foul 👍

@NEStalgia I've spent so many 1000's of hours in NMS VR. I know it's not everyone's cup of tea but I highly recommend it. It really comes into it's own in VR

@NEStalgia
I think Push will be behind given they have other games in February to play (Hogwarts, Ishin…).

I believe some VR YouTubers will organise themselves to split games between them to get a bunch of reviews out fast: PSVR Without Parole, Virtual Strangers, and Myles Dyer

I don’t think you can really compare NMS flat and VR, I’d consider them different games, but I understand why you’d not want to double dip.

Just remembered I need to get Tetris and Rez too…

@Darude84 For €200 I would have taken the risk? I have to say what kind of decent VR headsets are there for that price?

Sadly I'm financially tight now, so I'll need to hold off buying it for at least a couple months

@thefourfoldroot1 Yeah, the reviews will be late, that's a good point. I agree about NMS, it's just that the price will be full price for a while since it's near VR launch, even though it's frequently like $20 before VR, so it'll take some time for the price to hit low sales again.

@NEStalgia
Digital I guess, but given there will only be a couple of million psvr2 in the wild max, I’m thinking CEX are equivalent will have a second hand disc. As all upgrades, including PSVR is free, it might be worth a look.

Can’t afford it.

Although unlike VR1 I am interested in it.

Maybe one day once the price drops and the library is huge with more variety.

@PenguinLtd In response to you not trying VR. Honestly, VR was the best gaming wow moment I've had since Ridge Racer on the PS1. The scale of everything is insane. I would recommend grabbing an original psvr and Astrobot vr, then add in some tetris effect and vr worlds. It's mind blowing.

The real difficulty I don't think VR will ever shake is its anti-social and you can't see what's going on in the outside world due to the immersion. It's also awful for people with travel sickness. But honestly go and grab the first version and play a few games, yes the resolution isn't great but you will get the idea and it's magical.

@PlayStationGamer3919
No it isn't, maybe for you. But what psvr2 has to offer technically it is not expensive. and psvr2 is Playstation exclusive. So yes if you buy that you go blind for Playstation yes, seems logical to me.

@ROTTIEMAN16 just sony 1st party vr games of which there aren't many. 3rd party is generally not onboard.

@NEStalgia Like most I love a bargain but NMS is one of the few games I've paid full price for, twice in fact. Once on PC then on PS5. By my reckoning it's been the best bang for buck game I've ever bought and felt they deserve my hard-earned cash.

@thefourfoldroot1 Fair point. I'm all digital these days, and especially with vr, disc changing is..... Problematic... Lol. But one disc might not hurt. I'm sure it'll hit sales again after too long. It's an old evergreen and the vr2 sales bump isn't going to make too long a sales trend. The ssd size is going to be my biggest problem. I really should upgrade but afraid of the one in a million chance of static shocks killing my console right as vr drops, so, waiting... . Onigoro looks great too though. Can't tell if the upgrade is free, the pages talk about vr1 camera and Move but the vr2 page links to it.

Though I have to laugh at the first bullet point description on the ps store:
"Adventure with the Cute Anime Girl.
Portal meets Shadow of the Colossus in this memorable and intimate title." 😂

@TooBarFoo Yeah, I never really got on with it in 2d, it just seemed boring but the concept seems practically made for vr, and I keep hearing good things. I can't see paying $60 for a game that's often $20 but I'm sure a few months after vr2 launch I'm sure it'll go back on sales. If I can hold out long enough and resist temptation...

@Darude84 your comments deserve 100 likes. PS readers always like the comments made by the staff. But a lot of time the staff are justifying Sony's decisions, and the consumers are the right ones

@2here2there The tech costs what it costs. People were asking for a leap in VR and that's what we'll get. Could they have made a 400 $ one? Sure. But then everyone would be singing a different tune like: VR is *****, only 1 v 1 arena fighters with cellphone graphics. Now we're finally making a leap and they are being called out for asking ridiculous prices.

In todays society, I'm surprised Sony isn't sueing Bloomberg for misleading the public. Bloomberg is known for this stuff. Sites should really ignore Bloomberg since they are unreliable.
https://www.globalresearch.ca/bloomberg-news-fined-7-million-fake-news-report/5698645
Oh another one:- https://www.swfinstitute.org/news/91112/bloomberg-gets-caught-on-publishing-fake-news-about-russia-invading-ukraine

@Nexozi "Have a couple of ginger nut biscuits beforehand". My friend you are truly a legend. I love this.

21 DAYS TO GO!!!!

@TooBarFoo Wireless is more expensive because it needs a battery. That also means that the headset will be substantially heavier, you have to worry about keeping it charged so that you can play it at any time (the Pico 4 has a max battery life of 3 hours, with demanding games this will be even lower). And the battery degrades over time. So wired is definitely the way to go IMO.

And I personally don't like the idea of a Li-ion battery strapped to me head either.

Also, the Pico 4 doesn't have the haptics PSVR 2 does. It only goes up to 90 Hz instead of 120, and doesn't even have OLED HDR. It's definitely not the "better" option.

@KaijuKaiser oh did I not preorder!? I must have imagined it. Good luck with future bets

@Porco over 5 million sales is a pretty good metric for a niche hardware. It's not far fetched to estimate PSVR 2 will near 10 million.

To say it's beyond niche or that it'll limp through irrelevancy is just ignoring reality. Where did I say it's in a healthy place? Because it's pretty much still in its infant stage. It seems that you are replying as though I said it'll get 1 billion sales. All I said was tens of millions of people will be interested

You shouldn't echo your bias and sentiments when stating where VR is at, because most of what you've written is just that

@thefourfoldroot1 I bought psvr 1 day 1, have fun playing it for 2-3 weeks and sold it again since in the end, I prefer couch gaming with big tv compared to small screen headset.

@wiiware
Ok. Sorry to hear that.

@thefourfoldroot1 It's cool if you like vr though, I'm happy to see others getting really hyped for psvr 2

@wiiware
I can’t help it, 😂 I’ve played so many great games that would have been (and in some cases are) significantly inferior on a depthless window display.

@Member_the_game The price of the PS5 doesn't directly effect the actual cost to manufacturer PSVR2. I wouldn't be surprised it they are actually selling this at a loss. I understand the point you are try to make but that doesn't change the fact this is how much this tech costs to manufacturer. I personally wouldn't call it "dressing up"

@Discol76

I agree it doesn't effect manufacturing cost, not Sony's fault at all, my point was that it does effect the overall package cost which will make it too expensive for most people to consider purchasing one.

It's a catch 22 situation, obviously they have to cover their costs but at the same time they would like it to sell well.

Another way to look at it is that if they sold it for half the asking price they'd probably sell twice as many (if not more) and then potentially make even more money in software sales.

It's all if' and but's of course. It all depends on what Sony's overall sales projections are.

I think alot of people look at the number of PS4's sold and then next to that the number of PSVR 1 and assume it flopped which isn't necessarily the case.

@get2sammyb Seriously, people claiming PSVR2 is overpriced has zero knowledge in the VR field/technology.