During a conference which took place last week, Dominic Mallinson-the Vice President of Research and Development of Sony Interactive Entertainment, shared some of his thoughts on the future of virtual reality gaming. Among other things, he stated that Sony is confident in VR, but the PSVR 2 won’t launch at the same time with PlayStation 5.
It is already known that the current PSVR headset is compatible with the upcoming console, but Mallison mentioned some of the features that will be introduced with the PSVR 2 headset.
In an interview offered to a reliable source, Mallinson stated that the company would not release the new virtual reality headset and the console at the same time. He noted that such a decision would be uninspired since the potential customer will be overwhelmed by the supposed need to acquire both devices at the same time, leading to a negative feeling that could be harmful in the long run.
PSVR 2 Won’t Launch At The Same Time With PlayStation 5
Mallinson added that leaving a small breathing space between the two devices appears to be the best and most likely choice. The PSVR headset was released in 2016, at three years after the PS4 became available. Up to 4.2 million units have been sold, but some analysts believe that the decision to release it so late may have negatively impacted the sales number.
Another reason why PSVR 2 won’t launch along with PlayStation 5 stem from the fact that Sony wants to avoid price comparisons. When the PSVR has released the price for the headset alone was 400 dollars, and the bundle which included the camera and the controllers was $500. Add another $400 for the PS4 if you didn’t have one and the total cost reached $900, on par with most entry-level PC gaming systems.
By avoiding what is known in the industry as the sticker shock, the new devices have the potential to become quite popular in the long run, but that remains to be seen. What’s clear now is that PSVR 2 won’t launch at the same time with PlayStation 5.
Dorothy has been a journalist for ten years and has been working with the Tech News Watch staff since the beginning of the news site. Her main contribution to Tech News Watch are mobile, IT and science news, with a focus on software updates and great outer space discoveries.