It seems that Sony is confident that PSVR 2 can overtake its predecessor, but for this to happen, everything will have to change.
Sony CFO Hiroki Totoki was optimistic that the PSVR 2 would surpass sales of the first PlayStation VR headset when he spoke at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference last week (thanks, VGC (opens in a new tab)).
“We’re very happy to be able to launch VR2 on PS5,” Totoki said at the event. “VR1, we’ve sold over five million units, and I think we have a good chance of surpassing that with PlayStation VR2.”
And while the PS5 headset is undoubtedly excellent, offering great image quality and welcome features like eye-tracking support, it doesn’t appear to be a hit with out-of-gate console owners.
The PSVR 2’s pre-order performance was reportedly quite poor, and the hefty cost of $549 / £529 / AU$879 is certainly not going to do it any favors in the near future. It’s an impressively high-end headset for sure, but the fact that it’s more expensive than the PS5 itself is just poor optics for the average consumer.
Does PSVR 2 stand a chance?
Personally, I want nothing but success for PSVR 2. I’ve loved spending time with the headset so far, and it’s been a joy to play some of the best games on PSVR 2. Between Horizon: Call of the Mountains addictive climbing and Gran Turismo 7 breathtaking driving experience, playing games in PSVR 2 is just fantastic.
And I know it’s early days; the headset is not even a month old at the time of writing. But currently PSVR 2 is not well positioned to even scratch the impressive sales record of its predecessor.
Sony will need more exclusivity than just that Horizon if he really wants to start moving PSVR 2 units. But other than that, the VR headset is buckled to the knee in a number of ways. For starters, it’s not backwards compatible with original PSVR games, meaning you’ll still have to dig up your old headset if you feel like going back to Resident Evil 7 Or Astro Bot: Rescue Mission. We’re currently relying on developers to port their PSVR games to the new headset, and that’s not a guarantee.
I’d also like to see Sony introduce PSVR 2 games to its PS Plus games catalogue. If gamers can download some exclusive VR games for the cost of a monthly subscription, it will ease the strain on their wallets, especially after dropping a mountain of cash on an expensive headset.
Again, I want to emphasize that at this early stage, we simply don’t know how PSVR 2 will perform in the long run. But there are things Sony can do right now, like the suggestions above, to make PSVR 2 that much tastier. A drop in prices would be nice too, but I don’t see that happening for at least a few more years.