PlayStation VR sold out within hours and is still rarer than a bug free Bethesda game, so you would think Sony would be doing everything to get them on shelves. Well, apparently not. Sales forecasts for the device by analysts Superdata have been slashed for 2016 from 2.6 million to just 750k.
With demand so high for the device, and reviews being generally positive you have to wonder what Sony are playing at. Stephanie Llamas, director of research and insights at SuperData, has some thoughts.
“PSVR had the best opportunity to benefit from the holidays but their supply inconsistencies and lack of marketing have put them behind their potential,” she explained to GI.Biz. “They did not offer any first-party deals this weekend, restock bundles or market the device, pushing instead for the PS 4 Pro. They have also pointed out that VR looks even better on a Pro than a standard or slim PS 4, so the message to most gamers is: Get the Pro now, then the PSVR later. As a result, we won’t see them break 1M shipments until well into the new year.”
“They can afford to take it slow since they have no competition for now, so their supply and sales will rise steadily into 2017 as opposed to riding the seasonal wave,” she adds.
I am very pleased with my PSVR, as are the rest of the TSA staff who bought one, but Sony really need to start pushing the device in 2017. Of course, huge sales don’t always mean success; Kinect sold eight million units within the first few days.
UPDATE: Superdata were predicting sales of 2.6m for PSVR at the start of November, they’ve obviously had a bit of a think since then. PlayStation VR is still on track to outsell Oculus and HTC Vive.
Source: GI.Biz
Spence1115
The lack of stock would be one big issue. I know a lot of people who wanted one but nowhere has any in stock until January, by which point a lot of them may have lost interest.
TrumpyMx
PSVR has already outdoor vive and FacebookVR sales COMBINED in the uk
The Lone Steven
I don’t think that is what Spence was saying. I think they meant it is hard to get a hold of.
Tony Cawley
Typical Sony, same with Move, same with Vita. They’ve made something good, they need to get behind it, market it, get in on shelves and get it sold.
Low sales numbers means it won’t get developed for, which in turn means it’ll die a quick death.
Jag
This is the worry I have especially as there aren’t many big game experiences announced at all except Resi 7 and Ace Combat.
Personally I’m hoping for some big announcements at PSX this week and E3 at the latest.
wonkey-willy
Long live The “Discman”?
leeroye
Exactly the reason i did not buy one. Looks like i made the right choice. Got burned buying a VITA at release, ill never make that mistake again.
“They have also pointed out that VR looks even better on a Pro than a standard or slim PS 4, so the message to most gamers is: Get the Pro now, then the PSVR later. As a result, we won’t see them break 1M shipments until well into the new year.”
They say that yet im yet to see an article about any VR game that looks that much better on Pro, in fact i recall a DF article that said most of them have no upgrade at all.
ron_mcphatty
It’s such a shame, such a massive one. I’d love to know the reasons why stock is so low, it just seems so obvious to me to make sure there’s some excess around for Christmas.
TrumpyMx
You mean typical Sony, that they make awesome stuff that sells out quicker than they can make them? What a problem to have. Microsoft bring in the exact opposite situation, flooding the market, desperate to find customers.
I know which situation I would prefer to be in……
Jimster71
They’ve totally lost the momentum of the launch by making it almost impossible to get hold of a unit.
It could have sold like hot cakes in the run up to Christmas, which would have got more people interested for the new year.
wonkey-willy
they lost momentum with the ludacris price of it!
Tony Cawley
What did the rapper have to do with the pricing of it?
bunimomike
I wanted to say that! (Tony) :-)
Youles
Perhaps there are large costs 2pac and ship it. Oh well, it’s no Biggie, am sure those costs will be reduced.
Well, that’s just my 50 Cent anyway.
….oh dear.
wonkey-willy
screw you guys,screw you!
bunimomike
Youles – *applauds*
We love you, wonkey-willy! :D Never change. :)
TrumpyMx
Price is very tasty for a proper VR system. It’s offering almost the same experience of the top end devices, nut at a fraction of the cost.
Starman
I figured it hasn’t hit any big sales as Sony have been uncharacteristically quiet since launch. Yes you can blame supply issues but Sony said before they could meet demand so can only assume preorders were well below what the pretend experts at super data expected.
Tuffcub
Incorrect, Sony are not supplying enough, a friend who works in Argos tells me they get one in a week and it sells out in seconds. Amazon can’t fulfil day one pre-orders till later this month,
Starman
No you misunderstood me. I’m saying even if it were available it would not have sold 2.6m. Sony could meet production if they wanted to, but they chose not to increase production at risk of having millions of unsold units. The part about it having no competition makes superdata look very amateur. It has lots of competition so to say that doesn’t is very bizarre.
bunimomike
What happens if there’s a spike of pre-orders just before launch and then demand stays higher than they forecast over the first few days (after launch)? That means Sony simply can’t meet the demand as they didn’t know it would be so high – assuming their initial forecast was more reserved.
If that’s the case, Sony didn’t get their forecast correct as oppose to their production correct. Hmm… I may be splitting hairs on this but I think it’s a decent point.
Starman
Sony have been around long enough to know how good an indicator pre orders are of post release demand. Plus in the full report they speculate Sony played it safe by not overproducing, which is my belief too.
bunimomike
Oh, yeah, could easily have been, fella. Was just trying to assess all potential reasons. No matter what, someone’s slipped up somewhere. :-)
TSBonyman
That’s a hell of a drop. I can’t see developers spending time and resources on deeper VR experiences until the sales are there. Incredible that they would push the hardware many folks didn’t want over the hardware folks were excited about.
Interestingly, i was watching an interview with someone from the industry who reckons that gaming will only be a footnote in the history of VR.
JR.
Still easier to find than those goddamn Hatchimals Eggs… I think they made about five eggs for the whole world.
Tomhlord
As soon as places get them, they go. That’s a nice problem. Very early days, let’s see what 2017 brings.
MOVE
I’ve probably missed something but isn’t it Superdata and not Sony that are slashing predictions? In that case I’m less worried because analysts always make bold predictions – some wrong, some right, we’ll see.
Also, as some has pointed out, it more seems to be about Sony not risking to end up overstocking a new product that’s underselling. The could risk that demand will fade because of empty shelves but I doubt it.
Andrewww
I am still waiting for proper games to arrive for my PSVR, instead of just tech demos. Was quite devastated Robinson got such bad reviews and is only a few hours long, was hoping for that. There may not be anything as a ‘killer app’ in gaming, as tastes are very different, but I hope there’s quite some substantial reveals tomorrow at TGA.