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Gamingbolt: Sony’s Decision To Make PSVR2 Over A PlayStation Handheld Is Baffling

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sachos

Member
I did not read the article, but i am way more happy that they are going with a high end VR headset with new features not seen on any other headset for a relatively cheap price than pursuing a market already dominated by Nintendo that would also make their AAA games be held back by the weak handheld hardware.
 
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A.Romero

Member
Pretty obvious why the author is writing articles and not leading an electronics division...

No space to bet on handhelds anymore. VR is a risky bet but it does hit they will have the best position in the industry in 10 years.

Also playstation has handhelds covered through steamdeck.
 

tmlDan

Member
Honestly, handhelds are a waste of money to invest in, mobile is the future, mobile phones are more powerful than a switch. Genshin runs great on it and i dont even know if a switch can run genshin at 60 fps....

Just make it mobile, enough of wasting dev time on a handheld a minority of people will buy.

Glad they stuck to VR, eventually it will gain popularity amongst mainstream audiences with a push from Meta, soon Apple, and others.
 

TLZ

Banned
Ice Cube No GIF
 
If they do that you’re just inviting more cross-gen releases.

Which the PC has done for a long ass time. You want to argue next gen only is good and improves game output, which requires fixed hardware or high spec minimums. Then you want to argue about cross-gen, if it's ever to have a PC release then cross gen is a must, as are setting tweaks for players.

It's such a narrow field argument and doesn't even consider cross-platform, which is a big deal for gamers and open platforms these days.
 
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Crayon

Member
This seems to be based on the idea that sony would sell more portables. And ignoring the point that handhelds is already dominated by an extremely strong competitor vs vr which has yet to have a big breakout.

The original PlayStation sold over 100 million, the PS2 sold over 150 million, the PS3 sold over 80 million, the PS5 is already north of 30 million; the PSP sold over 80 million, even the PS Vita, the one and only real failure the PlayStation brand has had, is estimated to have sold 13-15 million units worldwide (as in, very literally three times as much as PSVR managed).

Ah, the root of all this stupidity around psvr2. The mysterious number of millions representing success or failure that the peanut gallery holds so close to their chests. Is it 100 million? 15 million? Just say it now and move your goal posts later.
 

JaksGhost

Member
Which the PC has done for a long ass time. You want to argue next gen only is good and improves game output, which requires fixed hardware or high spec minimums. Then you want to argue about cross-gen, if it's ever to have a PC release then cross gen is a must, as are setting tweaks for players.

It's such a narrow field argument and doesn't even consider cross-platform, which is a big deal for gamers and open platforms these days.
It limits game design. It’s as simple as that. If you can put a game into a PS4 spec’d handheld why not just make all of your games cross gen for max profit. Hell let’s start producing some more PS4s while we’re at it lol.
 
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It limits game design. It’s as simple as that. If you can put a game into a PS4 spec’d handheld why not just make all of your games cross gen for max profit. Hell let’s start producing some more PS4s while we’re at it lol.

I like the part where you assume all games have to support the handheld so your straw man argument holds water. You've also completely missed my point that PC releases are basically cross-gen support through resolutions, settings, performance modes etc etc. Literally how games have always been released on PC.
 
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TGO

Hype Train conductor. Works harder than it steams.
Ummm...it would definitely sell more I guess but unless Sony put their console magic into the thing and actually support it with quality games it's still not gonna touch Nintendo's Handheld.
I'm personally not interested in either of them at the moment.
 
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The handheld market is already saturated, Sony knows this. VR is an easier market to be profitable in, Meta is running their VR op into the ground. The bar is so low for VR right now, it's literally CONTENT.
 

jigglet

Banned
I'd prefer to see a handheld.

But I can also see why they chose VR.

Although, they chose the wrong VR.

Uber-high end and not wireless....it's the wrong type of VR to be trying to hit the mass market with IMO.
 

ReBurn

Gold Member
I still haven't gotten over being upset about them abandoning Vita. Why would I buy another handheld from them?
 
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onQ123

Member
A handheld will only make sense nowadays if it can play the software that's already being made for other devices & it will be awhile before a cheap PS4 compatible handheld with good battery life could be sold to the masses
 

Gobjuduck

Banned
Handheld gaming is a leisure

VR gaming is a chore, when the hardware isn’t collecting bugs and dust.

The psp was a success, but Sony killed off the ps vita with their arrogance. They left a giant gap, allowing Nintendo to dominate a fruitful market.

VR is a wasted effort. PSVR did not have impressive sales, neither will PSVR2.

Sony is lame, if not stupid for shifting away.
 
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Raonak

Banned
Handheld market is completely dominated on both sides, they can't get as cheap as the switch, they can't be as powerful as the steam deck.
all you'd be left is a vita-sized audience again.

and all their new PS5 games wouldn't even be playable on it. It'd be stuck with PS4 ports.

The biggest problem is that it would (at a soft level) compete with the PS5. Where a PSVR2 compliments a PS5.
 
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Crayon

Member
I'd prefer to see a handheld.

But I can also see why they chose VR.

Although, they chose the wrong VR.

Uber-high end and not wireless....it's the wrong type of VR to be trying to hit the mass market with IMO.

Show me something Uber high-end and wireless and then show me the price.
 
This seems to be based on the idea that sony would sell more portables. And ignoring the point that handhelds is already dominated by an extremely strong competitor vs vr which has yet to have a big breakout.

The original PlayStation sold over 100 million, the PS2 sold over 150 million, the PS3 sold over 80 million, the PS5 is already north of 30 million; the PSP sold over 80 million, even the PS Vita, the one and only real failure the PlayStation brand has had, is estimated to have sold 13-15 million units worldwide (as in, very literally three times as much as PSVR managed).

Ah, the root of all this stupidity around psvr2. The mysterious number of millions representing success or failure that the peanut gallery holds so close to their chests. Is it 100 million? 15 million? Just say it now and move your goal posts later.

To be fair, if Sony were to only sell 3 million PSVR2 headsets, that would probably be a huge monetary loss.
 

tr1p1ex

Member
yeah mobile killed the market for a Sony handheld.

Not to say it can't come back. But the PS/Xbox customers would have to want it and have to accept lesser graphics as I don't see Sony doing a seperate handheld and console.
 
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jigglet

Banned
Show me something Uber high-end and wireless and then show me the price.

i worded it in a confusing way. my bad.

What I meant to say is, there are two ways to tackle VR IMO:

High price: Uber high end tech with lots of AAA content ala HL Alyx

Low end price: Low to medium end tech, wireless, with a bunch of gimmicky experiences


In this economy and with how few Half Life level projects are in development, I'd go for the latter. There simply isn't enough of a pipeline of AAA to justify the prices and tech level they're asking for. I think they've overshot the market.
 
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ZoukGalaxy

Member
Can't thanks enough SONY to have the balls to keep iterating VR and actually IMPROVE it, not downgrading it à la Quest.

So much VR haters, that's sick.

Handled is dead, smartphone replaced all gaming for most casual people. And it hurts to say that as an huge 3DS fan.

PSVR2 is one more great decision from SONY.
FTFY

Also, Jim has nothing to do with PSVR2, not his decision. Deal with it.
 
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Crayon

Member
To be fair, if Sony were to only sell 3 million PSVR2 headsets, that would probably be a huge monetary loss.

That's fair to say. That would be down around half of what they sold of the first one. It's reasonable to assume there aiming for more than the first one. Considering 10 million would be twice as many as the last one and probably a big success, we are looking at a pretty small scale here compared to consoles. More in line with the sales numbers of a single aaa game, to give some perspective. Depending on their goals, they might even lose a little money if they sell that $10 million. Guessing how much money they plan to make is even harder than guessing how many of these a plan to sell.
 

mckmas8808

Banned
Sony can now release a handheld with full PS4 specs and 100% compatibility.

They are dumb if they don't.

They can also downscale the games to 720p and boost framerates.

Do you realize that even Nintendo isn't doing this. They made a console/handheld combo. A pure handheld would make no sense.
 
The handheld market is already saturated, Sony knows this. VR is an easier market to be profitable in, Meta is running their VR op into the ground. The bar is so low for VR right now, it's literally CONTENT.

Proven handheld/smartphone/console market segments with established libraries, tech and manufacturing/talent vs an emerging tech/market that no one has turned a profit in with massive R&D/loss leading costs and you think VR is easier to make profit in? Sure first mover/innovator advantage and all that has a big upside but we've already seen VR fizzle a number of times. I think VR will get there but not in the current form long term and CONTENT is very light on the ground, especially a must have 1-2 trick pony for consumers to drop $500 to $1K on.

Disagree with your statement.
 
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Proven handheld/smartphone/console market segments with established libraries, tech and manufacturing/talent vs an emerging tech/market that no one has turned a profit in with massive R&D/loss leading costs and you think VR is easier to make profit in? Sure first mover/innovator advantage and all that has a big upside but we've already seen VR fizzle a number of times. I think VR will get there but not in the current form long term and CONTENT is very light on the ground, especially a must have 1-2 trick pony for consumers to drop $500 to $1K on.

Disagree with your statement.

That’s fine. But. There is a reason why Nintendo is the market leader in mobile consoles. Content. Before the el cheapo quest, it was PSVR that was the king in terms of units sold/VR content. Sure it’s niche, but it’s slowly gaining traction. A portable from Sony or Microsoft would be throwing money down the drain.

Like you said, proven. But proven by whom? Nintendo. A certain market, VR, portables, cloud gaming have a finite capacity for market players. That most new players have to adopt a loss leader strategy (see stadia).

Also, PSVR was profitable according to various sources. Just because the Zuck sucks at VR, doesn’t mean Jimbo does.
 

Crayon

Member
i worded it in a confusing way. my bad.

What I meant to say is, there are two ways to tackle VR IMO:

High price: Uber high end tech with lots of AAA content ala HL Alyx

Low end price: Low to medium end tech, wireless, with a bunch of gimmicky experiences


In this economy and with how few Half Life level projects are in development, I'd go for the latter. There simply isn't enough of a pipeline of AAA to justify the prices and tech level they're asking for. I think they've overshot the market.

That's where they have a good proposition here. It's a seriously high end headset for a price closer to a quest. Plus the prerequisite platform is a console and not the much more expensive pc you would need to keep up a ps5 when it gets to cheat with foveated rendering.

Now the AAA pipeline is the big question. In the small world of vr, psvr2 has 3 bombshells with graphics that look as good as any aaa game - on launch day. You would need a good pc to do that, even if you could. And such games will not exist on standalone for a great long time.

Launch day is not a pipeline, though. We need to wait till it's first holiday and they start announcing games a year out, then we can actually look ahead at the pace things are going to be coming and their quality/budget/scale. It they could get 2 more games with those kind of production values and appeal per year, that would be amazing in vr terms. But that's in the vr world. Even that is not enough for a $550 headset, no matter how good it is, to bring in loads and loads of people where it snowballs into a robust software economy. Numbers like 30 million, 40 million. That's a long way off. My guess is that they are going for 7 or 8 million plus a lot more engagement and software sales. That would mean they grew that audience by 50% and also had them spending and playing more than they did with the first one. Then, by the time psvr3 rolls around, they will be one of the major players in vr. Even if that means a big fish in a small pond.

The tipping point is out there in the era of headsets like this being $200. If it's there at all, that is. You've got sony, apple, htc, samsung, meta, and valve all with their hats in the ring. So they believe it's out there. Since it's selling to such a small, spendy audience, it makes sense to go high end on the set instead of cutting corners to get it $100 cheaper. They are stuck with it for 6 or 7 years, after all.
 

Foilz

Banned
The psb and vita were/are some of the best handhelds ever made. They stills ell so well on ebay for their homebrewing and emulation.
 
That’s fine. But. There is a reason why Nintendo is the market leader in mobile consoles. Content. Before the el cheapo quest, it was PSVR that was the king in terms of units sold/VR content. Sure it’s niche, but it’s slowly gaining traction. A portable from Sony or Microsoft would be throwing money down the drain.

Like you said, proven. But proven by whom? Nintendo. A certain market, VR, portables, cloud gaming have a finite capacity for market players. That most new players have to adopt a loss leader strategy (see stadia).

Also, PSVR was profitable according to various sources. Just because the Zuck sucks at VR, doesn’t mean Jimbo does.

Steam Deck and Apple/Android fit the bill. Also we really don't see Eastern handheld numbers but they're pretty popular and getting better all the time, especially the screens.

I'm happy Sony and others keep evolving VR but I know what I'd buy given the choice of where to spend $500-$1k.

Also in terms of VR profit with low entry Samsung Gear is likely outperforming all VR platforms for net profits, for now.
 
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If Sony made a handheld that played all of the PS4 games I think that would sell a lot. Then again, steam deck is already doing that and more.

I wonder how many steam decks have been sold already.
 

Robb

Gold Member
I’d rather take a new handheld from Sony as I have zero interest in owning a VR set myself. But I don’t think it’d be a smart move on their part.
 
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