Sony may have to cut PSVR 2 price after slow launch

In short: While the Sony PSVR 2 is said to offer a great VR experience, it seems like asking $550 for a device wasn’t the best idea, especially during a time of economic uncertainty when people are tightening their belts. Headset sales are slow to start, and a price cut may be needed to avoid total disaster, according to a new report.

Research firm IDC (via Bloomberg) suggests that Sony will likely sell around 270,000 units of the February 22 PSVR2 by the end of March.

Francisco Geronimo, IDC vice president of data and analytics, cited the volatility of the global economy as one of the main reasons for PSVR 2’s disappointing launch. At a time when utility prices are rising, interest rates are high and many companies are cutting jobs, $550 per virtual reality headsets are not a big priority for most people.

“I suspect a PSVR2 price cut will be required to avoid a complete failure of their new product,” Geronimo said.

Sony originally hoped to sell 2 million PSVR 2 headsets by next March, but revised that figure down to 1.5 million. PSVR 2 probably experienced its biggest sales spike during its first month of release, with purchases slowing down going forward. The Japanese gaming giant believes its console’s latest headset will be popular enough to surpass the original PSVR’s 5 million sales, which seems optimistic.

The PSVR 2 received rave reviews for its impressive feature set, great controllers, and two 2000 x 2040 OLED displays. But the headset’s higher price than the PlayStation 5 has always put some people off.

This news was another blow to the virtual reality industry and, by extension, to the metaverse. In 2022, headset shipments are down 12% year-over-year, with Microsoft and Disney laying off all of their metaverse teams as part of cost-cutting plans.

The meta, of course, still insists that the metaverse will be the future of computing, but until virtual reality becomes more accessible to the masses, this will likely remain Mark Zuckerberg’s unfulfilled dream.