It’s been a whole year since Sony brought the PlayStation VR to market, and the company are looking to celebrate the headset over on the EU and US PlayStation Blog, but a worrying statistic for the platform is that Shawn Layden can still only tout a “one million gamers and counting” statistic in relation to the headset’s sales, which tells us that sales of the headset have stalled significantly since the start of the year.
Had the headset passed 2 million or even sold 1.5 million to gamers, you can bet that Sony would have touted that instead of the vagueness of Layden’s words, but it’s telling that the last official word from Sony on the matter was that they’d sold “over 1 million” back in June. This was despite a positive start that saw them reach 915,000 by the end of Febraury, which at the time led to Andrew House say that they were ahead of their projections of 1 million by mid-April.
It’s for this reason that Layden’s tone is one of optimism for the future. He states that more than 60 games are planned for release through the end of 2017 and early 2018, pointing to Skyrim VR, Bravo Team, The Inpatient, Moss, Starchild and Rec Room. “The best is yet to come” he states, but the lack of a new milestone does make me wary.
Sony’s headset made virtual reality much more accessible compared to the then prohibitively expensive Oculus Rift and HTC Vive, and we should celebrate that, but Sony need to inject a new impetus into the headsets sales. A recently announced revision is on the way in the near future, and there was a price cut to the bundle pricing a couple months ago, but is there something more that Sony could be doing?
For the sake of the platform and for virtual reality as a whole, let’s hope sales pick up again over the next few months and the “holiday” selling period.
MrYd
So it sold 1m in the first 8 months, including the launch and christmas period, and then less than 0.5m in the next 4 months? Which includes the summer when you’d expect less people to be buying something to strap to their head and melt their faces off.
Bit of a leap to say sales have stalled, isn’t it? Cheaper bundles (and maybe even a price cut) along with some big games coming and it could just do very well over the next couple of months.
Stefan L
915,000 in 5 months when supply was constrained, a nebulous “over 1 million” statement 3 months later and the same figure 4 months after that? Supply is no longer limited, so demand doesn’t seem to have kept up since launch.
MrYd
But we don’t know how many they’ve sold since June. All we know is the total is over 1m. Would they be saying 1.5m if it was that many? Or would they wait for it to reach 2m before changing from “over 1 million”?
It could be the last 4 months have seen sales of 7, or over 900k, but probably somewhere between those figures. Over the summer. When sales are going to be lower anyway.
And supply hasn’t been that limited since the first couple of months. Yes, you might have had to get it from somewhere else, but they were readily available.
bunimomike
Remember how Microsoft and Sony were proud of their launch (and post launch) figures this generation when the PS4 and Xbox One came out? Remember how Microsoft became more and more vague with regards to sales figures? Can you see the pattern?
Most gamers can see why something like VR would fail. It’s failed in the past and looks set to fail this time around as well.
This isn’t fact (yet) and the terms of a failure are open to interpretation but if you want to remain positive that’s fine. It just won’t change a single thing regarding how many of us perceive what’s going on.
If we’re wrong, that’s great news! If not… no surprise.
camdaz
Even though it’s just one on one the GT Sport VR mode should show what’s possible with the headset. Looking forward to giving it a go.
Tony Cawley
Same as with all these things Sony do. Vita. Move. PS4 camera. Release it, fully support it for a year, then it quietly fades into oblivion.
Tuffcub
That’s not true there are a shed load of games coming out, but they really need a systems seller.
Tony Cawley
There may be loads of games coming, how many of them are first party? I genuinely don’t know.
If they’re mainly out all third party, my point stands about Sony dropping things.
leeroye
I would argue that there a very few games coming out for it as i dont count these 20 minute “experiences” as games.
The only 2 games i know of that would make VR worth while are GT sport and Resi 7. I can honestly say nothing else has been of any interest at all. Im not ponying up £350 just for 2 games.
Glad i didnt buy into the hype like it did with the VITA, that thing was dead inside 18 months, unless you into indie titles which is not what that system was touted for at launch.
Sony cant be trusted to support niche hardware like this as we have seen in the past. They drop support as soon as sales dry up. I predict VR will be dead (at least on PS4) in the next 12 months.
double-o-dave
It appears to me to be a bit like the release of a new game… Everyone who wanted one, got one within the first couple of months. Anyone else who didn’t purchase one in that timeframe probably isn’t that concerned with buying one OR they’re waiting for a significant price-drop as they can’t afford it. I can’t imagine there being much middle ground if that makes sense.
JR.
I’ll pick one up cheap next year when it’s been abandoned.
bennibop
Really not surprised that sales have tailed off over the summer, why in gods name would anyone strap themselves into headset when it’s hot. I know plenty of people looking to pick one up now we are hitting the winter. Still love mine and use it most days
TSBonyman
So far it’s been for the early adopters and those have already surpassed expectations. I think the time to start asking questions will be if Skyrim VR doesn’t kick things off with more of a core gaming audience.
DividSmythe
I got mine back from repair today and I’ve got to say how much fun it is. I do understand why the sales have tailed off a bit as I was sweating profusely while playing it. I’ve got to say I’m not so impressed with Skyrim VR from what I’ve seen YouTube though. Let’s hope there will be system seller out soon.
MOVE
Well, my leaning towards getting one soonish haven’t changed. With all the games coming out there seem to be a plethora of interesting games in the growing PSVR library.
It does seem in need of a price cut and perhaps one big killer app. As for the price cut – with Occulus just lowering theres to match PSVR and Paris Games coming up in less than three weeks – I think it’s impending.