Game Want You To Pay To Play Test PSVR In Store

Fancy giving PlayStation VR a try while you consider whether or not VR is for you? Well, Game are more than happy to oblige, so long as you pony up £5 for a ten minute demo, £15 for a thirty minute demo, or if you then pre-order the system – it’s not expected to be readily available until later this year.

gamebromleypsvr

Now, I can understand this from Game’s point of view. Setting up demo units in store is a big ask for a company that makes the bulk of its money from selling games (whether new or more lucrative second hand copies) as opposed the hardware that they run on, and space in Game stores is often at a premium. Not only that, but staff need to be on hand to look after people trying the headset out, making sure that it’s put on properly, guiding people through the games, and so on.

Having PSVR costs Game time, space, manpower and money, but this is probably the last thing that Sony want to see for PSVR, when they want to get demo units onto as many heads as possible. There’s a lot of convincing to do and shoving a paywall between prospective customers and the console is a bloody stupid idea and one that shouldn’t be supported or vindicated.

Update: Apparently Game have permission to do this from Sony.

https://twitter.com/GAMEBluewater/status/789819606361894912

Update 2: In a statement to Eurogamer, Game explained their reasoning for this, which is rather similar to what I hypothesised above:

Our pay-to-play PlayStation VR experience is a GAME-led initiative. The cost to use the in-store PS4 pod is entirely refundable for customers that go on to buy either the headset or a PS4 console. The payment allows us to ensure that we have dedicated staff manning the PlayStation VR pods who have been fully trained to adhere to best practice demo guidelines.

The demos are intended to give our customers access to one of the most exciting new gaming technologies in 2016 and provide them with the opportunity to get a feel for VR before they commit to buy.

Source: Game Bromley

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26 Comments

  1. Fair enough really given the space that will be needed and supervision like the article says. They’ll be losing a lot of profitable shelf space to something that’s sold out so they can’t even sell anyway at the moment. At least this way the people trying it will be potential buyers instead of the local chavs who have nothing better to do!

  2. I just tried to check if my far away ‘local’ Game store has a demo unit but couldn’t find the info. What I did find was a PSVR for sale for £499.95! Only £150 more than it should be.

  3. Meh. Part of me can appreciate why they’re doing this. Weeds out the tyre kickers and the bored school kids on half term from those who genuinely want to see if it’s for them before placing an order. Then there’s the fact it’s a pricey bit of hardware to put on demo that they’ll never be able to sell afterwards…

    I appreciate it could set a precedent and some may see it as a barrier, a paywall, or just cheeky profiteering but I think it might actually be necessary in this instance.

  4. well, they can eff off.

  5. I tried out vr at game the other week after signing up on line. I’m glad I did now as I wouldn’t like to pay for the privilege.

  6. Why dont Sony arrange these demos themselves around the country. I realise they did a few before launch but they were all in England. Sony do know know the UK stretches further than England dont they?

  7. But I am tempted by the Nintendo Switch :D

  8. I think it would be better if the 10 min demo was free to cater for the wide interest and then charge for the extended demo but it should still make it easier for those who are genuinely interested in buying one to try before they buy.

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