FunkMiller
Member
It's almost as if to successfully sell a games console or peripheral, you have to make sure it has lots of games on it that people want to buy and play, that can't be played anywhere else.
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Boomberg: Sony Hits Pause on PSVR2 Production as Unsold Inventory Piles Up
- Thread starter adamsapple
- Start date
adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Image courtesy of Era.
ShaiKhulud1989
Gold Member
Friendly reminder that PSVR2 is still a huge success for Sony because its tech was essentially licensed for Vision Pro. Sony is the main vendor for all the vital tech there, including the eye tracking.
VolticArchangel
Member
No BC is a huge reason for this failure, on top of barely any exclusive or even 3rd party software.
Imagine your library that you bought, being locked to last gen hardware, in 2024, when BC is a global standard in game consoles.
No matter what the technical reasons are, it sounds like an excuse.
Imagine your library that you bought, being locked to last gen hardware, in 2024, when BC is a global standard in game consoles.
No matter what the technical reasons are, it sounds like an excuse.
bender
What time is it?
Humans see what they want to see.
adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Sushi_Combo
Member
They first have to figure out how to not spend 200M on developing games lol.
thismeinteil
Member
So if the chart above is correct, it sold 1.7M in less than a year. Not bad for a niche product tied to the PS5, and is more than likely sold at a profit.
Granted it definitely could be better if it had had PC support Day 1 or shortly after. Really, the only big negative for me was lack of B/C. Sure a few devs ported their games, but Sony really should have come up with some SW solution that made it possible to play PSVR1 games. Or at the very least, had a program to help devs port their games as easily as possible. Maybe ask for 35%-40% of the sales, instead of the usual 30%, in exchange for helping to fund and/or aid in the development of the port.
A cut to $449 wouldn't hurt, either.
Granted it definitely could be better if it had had PC support Day 1 or shortly after. Really, the only big negative for me was lack of B/C. Sure a few devs ported their games, but Sony really should have come up with some SW solution that made it possible to play PSVR1 games. Or at the very least, had a program to help devs port their games as easily as possible. Maybe ask for 35%-40% of the sales, instead of the usual 30%, in exchange for helping to fund and/or aid in the development of the port.
A cut to $449 wouldn't hurt, either.
That is SHIPPED, NOT SOLD
and likely NOT at a profit, as they have to recoup both cost of materials AND development/R&D.
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onnextflix5
Member
3 reasons it don’t sell,
Price
Software
It’s big and heavy
Pc support is not gonna change much, look at all the other pc headsets,
Maybe they will try again next gen, when all the issues are fixed.
Price
Software
It’s big and heavy
Pc support is not gonna change much, look at all the other pc headsets,
Maybe they will try again next gen, when all the issues are fixed.
ShaiKhulud1989
Gold Member
Tech side was covered in spades the moment Apple announced their main Vision Pro vendor.
I also note that if Mochizuki’s article was true, we would’ve seen a permanent price-cut to clear up the stocks in all regions.
thismeinteil
Member
Shipped is sold to Sony. I also highly doubt they're losing money at $550.
MasterDerico
Member
Portal is next!
TransTrender
Gold Member
100% not surprising.
Rentahamster
Rodent Whores
Should have made more good games to give people a reason to play it.
FinalBossWithTheMostPower
Member
Have one.
It's more like a neat party trick, I barely play it.
Quantum253
Gold Member
Just like buying the Portal and the sense ear buds are almost $500. Sony does have some expensive accessories for sure
nial
Member
It literally does not need any kind of support.
Killjoy-NL
Gold Member
Compared to PSVR1, it is.
VR is going to be niche for a long time to come though, if not always.
Can't say I'm surprised to see the numbers. High price and no advertising and support from Sony.
Mine's collecting dust.
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Killjoy-NL
Gold Member
Portal is incomparable to PSVR2 though.
Portal is literally just a Dualsense with a screen and overtook regular gaming on my OLED for 99% of the time.
Quantum253
Gold Member
Yet for that streaming device and a pair of wireless ear buds it almost cost the same.
I picked up the PSVR on launch and it got about 3-5 hours of total playtime. The price to try is none the less high. It's why I didn't even bother looking into getting a PSVR2
Killjoy-NL
Gold Member
Then don't buy the wireless ear buds?
The price for Portal is fine.
And why buy something to try it?
I'll give you the price for PSVR2 though. Sony should either drop the price and go all in on support, if they want it to have some sort of success.
I said this before it was released and got lambasted. Nobody wants to connect VR to something else. It doesn’t matter how powerful it is. That’s why the Quest blows this out of the water, and why the PSVR2 was/is guaranteed to fail.
The Quest 3 is fantastic, actually.it's certainly surprising that meta is doing so well. vr in general kind of sucks. maybe meta adopters are slow to realize this?
they may be covering the bill of materials, but not development costs. that takes sales of many units AND continued downward pricing on the bill of materials over time. So yes, they are losing money
they cannot be "profitable" until ALL costs are recovered.
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ArtHands
Thinks buying more servers can fix a bad patch
They didn’t cut the price of PS5 even when they were failing to meet their 25m sales goal. In fact they increased the Ps5 price.
So a price cut for PSVR2 is out of the question.
ShaiKhulud1989
Gold Member
Then it's not failing that hard to stop the production anyway. Or to even lower the price a bit.
Tha main takeaway in this article is just silly, despite lower-than-expected PSVR 2 sales.
StreetsofBeige
Gold Member
So even during Xmas 2023 quarter, it shipped the least quarterly Wow. While Meta shipped the most.Image courtesy of Era.
thicc_girls_are_teh_best
Member
I only wish the source weren't Bloomberg Takahashi, whose hateboner for all things Sony seems harder than the world's toughest diamond.
But I'm not going to refute the possibility of this being true, either, because it's probably 90% accurate in this case. No sales updates since the first few weeks it went to retail, diminished 1P support, now mention of working on PC compatibility for sometime before the end of the year.
There's a lot of circumstantial evidence to support that sales have dried up and channels are backed up with too much unsold PSVR2 supply. The tech seems fantastic, but ultimately it's a pricey add-on and that's why it isn't succeeding. Well, that and lack of exclusives to drive it (or at least enough traditional games supporting it with VR modes).
The sad part is there are going to be a lot of people who use this as evidence that VR as a whole is a dead-end, when VR (or specifically, tech utilizing VR liked MR/mixed reality) is probably the best bet to drive interest and value proposition, plus innovation, in future games that isn't the same old "prettier graphics, faster frames" stuff. Especially as the big barriers to high-production AAA games these days isn't the available tech, but a combination of budgets, team sizes and development times all needing to bloat gen-over-gen.
This isn't the end of console VR, it's just the end of console VR as an expensive optional peripheral being the only choice. VR, AR whatever is only going to succeed when a cheap headset can be included standard with the console, and the console QOL/UI experience is developed with traditional & VR/AR/MR usage from the ground-up. Sony's in the best position market-wise to do that but only if visionaries are getting the big say on the matter and not bean counters ignoring the long-term for the short-term.
Anyway it's late; I'm gonna go fantasize about Stellar Blade's ass-cheeks in my face.
That's not the reason why PSVR2 adoption has been slow. If anything, not offering a wireless option is more of a reason than simply "needing" a console to connect it to (wired or wireless).
The main factors contributing to slower adoption rates are simple:
And in terms of immediacy, going in that order from most to least impactful. However, over time each successive step, if it were to be tackled, would open up more opportunities. So the order could easily be seen from least to most impactful in that sense.
But I'm not going to refute the possibility of this being true, either, because it's probably 90% accurate in this case. No sales updates since the first few weeks it went to retail, diminished 1P support, now mention of working on PC compatibility for sometime before the end of the year.
There's a lot of circumstantial evidence to support that sales have dried up and channels are backed up with too much unsold PSVR2 supply. The tech seems fantastic, but ultimately it's a pricey add-on and that's why it isn't succeeding. Well, that and lack of exclusives to drive it (or at least enough traditional games supporting it with VR modes).
The sad part is there are going to be a lot of people who use this as evidence that VR as a whole is a dead-end, when VR (or specifically, tech utilizing VR liked MR/mixed reality) is probably the best bet to drive interest and value proposition, plus innovation, in future games that isn't the same old "prettier graphics, faster frames" stuff. Especially as the big barriers to high-production AAA games these days isn't the available tech, but a combination of budgets, team sizes and development times all needing to bloat gen-over-gen.
This isn't the end of console VR, it's just the end of console VR as an expensive optional peripheral being the only choice. VR, AR whatever is only going to succeed when a cheap headset can be included standard with the console, and the console QOL/UI experience is developed with traditional & VR/AR/MR usage from the ground-up. Sony's in the best position market-wise to do that but only if visionaries are getting the big say on the matter and not bean counters ignoring the long-term for the short-term.
Anyway it's late; I'm gonna go fantasize about Stellar Blade's ass-cheeks in my face.
That's not the reason why PSVR2 adoption has been slow. If anything, not offering a wireless option is more of a reason than simply "needing" a console to connect it to (wired or wireless).
The main factors contributing to slower adoption rates are simple:
1: Super high price
2: Lack of exclusives
3: Lack of big/notable games leveraging it for optional VR modes/content
4: Lack of being a default option with the console
And in terms of immediacy, going in that order from most to least impactful. However, over time each successive step, if it were to be tackled, would open up more opportunities. So the order could easily be seen from least to most impactful in that sense.
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BiohazardX95
Member
Didn't Microsoft had to do the same because Xbox series consoles are not selling? At least this one is an accesory.
Also, Sony is barely supporting the ps5 with first party games, can't expect them to support VR, despite that there are great games to play on vr2, year 1 was amazing.
Also, Sony is barely supporting the ps5 with first party games, can't expect them to support VR, despite that there are great games to play on vr2, year 1 was amazing.
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FoxMcChief
Gold Member
Man, I was so fucking close to getting one too. Thank god my better sense took hold of me.
WitchHunter
Banned
Let VR burn. It's the 3D TV again and again. Dead tech and will be for a long time.
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FoxMcChief
Gold Member
Might be too late, when there are other options.
FoxMcChief
Gold Member
Here’s my active setup in the living room.
I’m good with my Quest 3 giving me my VR needs, and my PS5 and Series X giving me my big games. My switch (not in the picture) now resides on my bedroom.
I’m good with my Quest 3 giving me my VR needs, and my PS5 and Series X giving me my big games. My switch (not in the picture) now resides on my bedroom.
FoxMcChief
Gold Member
Yes and no. The Quest 2/3 are popular because they are great as standalone products. But they’re also great as a cheaper option for PC VR.
ArtHands
Thinks buying more servers can fix a bad patch
Well the article didn’t say they are discontinuing the product. Only pausing the production here. There’s a chance they might resume the production.
It seems Sony will rather do anything than price cutting as shown as PS5 missing the sales goal.
Absolutely. Alyx on Quest 3 via WiFi 6E is unmissable.
Investor9872
Member
Instead of wasting all of that R&D money on the development of the VR2 and games for it, Sony should have just released an OLED Vita 2 with BC for the PSP and Vita games along with the dedicated Vita 2 games! They would have sold at least 10 to 20 million units easily.
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