Due to decreasing sales, Sony has halted production of its current generation virtual reality headset, the PlayStation VR2. According to sources familiar with the company’s plans, the headset’s stock has been building up throughout Sony’s supply chain since its unveiling around a year ago. Since its release, the PSVR2, which is compatible with the PlayStation 5 platform, has seen shipments fall in every quarter, with over 2 million units produced.
Sony now has an excess supply of headsets that it appears to want to sell before producing new ones. As per Bloomberg, the major difficulty for the PSVR2 is a lack of content and entertainment options on the platform. While the headgear is compatible with a few AAA games, its high price point has raised consumer expectations.
Meanwhile, Sony’s recent layoffs, including the closing of its London Studio and the shrinking of its Firesprite studio, have also influenced teams working on VR products, Bloomberg reports.
To address the paucity of content, Sony has revealed intentions to test PC support for the PlayStation VR2. The headset’s functionality for PC games is still unknown, but it is expected to arrive later this year.
Even if Sony can provide fresh content for the PSVR2, the high cost of VR technology will be the biggest impediment to its expansion.
The high price of VR hardware acts as the main hurdle for its expansion,” Macquarie analyst Yijia Zhai said as quoted by Bloomberg. “Currently, there are limited games that support VR devices, and that will also lead to a lack of motivation for players to purchase VR hardware. This limited content also has a reason – the development cost for VR games is substantially higher than normal titles,” Zhai adds.
Despite the existing hurdles, International Data Corporation (IDC) predicts that the VR market will increase by an average of 31.5 percent each year between 2023 and 2028. According to analysts, Apple’s entry with its Vision Pro headset is helping to accelerate this rise.
The PSVR2 is not the only Sony product experiencing weak demand. Sales of the PlayStation 5 platform have also been declining in recent quarters, and Sony is preparing a new “Pro” device, the PS5 Pro, in the hopes of reversing the trend. The new Pro console is slated to be available later in 2024, around the holiday season.
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