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[yet_another_alt]

PSVR2 means life!
In all seriousness, the Quest is just a better buy. Sony needs Apple levels of fanboys if they actually expect their tied down VR to sell.

 

[Three]

I think the obvious concern is the ability to court devs with less than a million sold in over a year on the market, with no obvious signs of gaining momentum. In saying that, it seems to require less of an investment to make a stand out VR title.

You're obviously absolutely right but I believe they even have some good advantages to court developers. The main one being that most VR games are Unity and UE and the PS5 has a lot more headroom than native quest so doing a PSVR2 version too is fairly low effort for the potential sales. The other is games that were not developed for mobile SoCs, so your RE4s, Ace Combats etc. They would potentially require more work for a quest version than vice versa. I see this advantage shrinking in the future because I sense a shift to mobile/ARM development but it's something that PCVR and PSVR have an advantage on. With the Unreal Injector you might even possibly see VR patches/versions for past games. PCVR and PSVR stores actually suffer the same fate in terms of dev support, native Quest game sales are severely outdoing them but not exactly near the headset sales difference of the Quest since PCVR and PSVR headsets/stores have an audience that's more gaming focused. There is a different type of audience there much like mobile, where particular games like Pavlov are very unlikely to be doing 20x on quest vs native PCVR, PSVR sales. As long as game sales to that audience exist they won't have a problem courting devs to develop for it.

In a perfect world, Sony cuts production costs to get the unit down to $350 and purchases rights to a "killer app" for an enticing bundle. In this perfect world, the Fresnel lenses get a slight rework to increase the sweetspot as well. I can't tell you how many times I have added a PSVR2 and PS5 to my cart to later remove them. One day, the price will be right and I'll finally take the plunge.

A price cut would certainly provide a boost. I hope they do it and you get to give it a shot.

 

[ReBurn]

Sony needs to stop beating around the bush and make PSVR2 PC compatible.

Or drop the price. It's more expensive than the console you have to buy to use it.

 

[StereoVsn]

PSVR2 means life!
In all seriousness, the Quest is just a better buy. Sony needs Apple levels of fanboys if they actually expect their tied down VR to sell.

Yeah, Sony’s support for VR is reminding me of Vita. Strong initial showing and then nothing much down the road.

It’s really freaking puzzling. Why bother releasing it if you won’t support the hardware with proper software releases.

And yeah, I would have gotten Quest 2 and then 3 if it wasn’t from Facebook/Meta.

 

[THE DUCK]

Yeah, Sony’s support for VR is reminding me of Vita. Strong initial showing and then nothing much down the road.

It’s really freaking puzzling. Why bother releasing it if you won’t support the hardware with proper software releases.

And yeah, I would have gotten Quest 2 and then 3 if it wasn’t from Facebook/Meta.

Agreed, pretty bad to release peice of expensive hardware like this and have only a couple of 1st party games at launch and then.......nothing.....

And considering what happened with psvr you would think they would go the extra mile to restore confidence in ps vr........

And the price is still way too high to sell, they just got trounced by meta.

 

[Three]

Yeah, Sony’s support for VR is reminding me of Vita. Strong initial showing and then nothing much down the road.
It’s really freaking puzzling. Why bother releasing it if you won’t support the hardware with proper software releases.

There are barely any exclusives in the VR realm but even then it wasn't so bad plus there was all the multiplatform VR games like Pavlov, 7th Guest, Arizona Sunshine, etc.
I think people are being a little harsh on the release schedule for the device. These exclusives within a year: GT7, Horizon Call of the mountain, RE8, Switchback VR, Firewall and RE4 just a few weeks ago would be considered a good year in terms of software but I don't think you're going to see some massive exclusive games schedule from any headset really. you barely even get that on base systems. Multiplatform games is going to be the majority of what's in development.

 

[Beechos]

Shit is dead. Worst purchase I've made in a very long time. I can't believe I bought this day 1 expecting vr greatness. I can't believe the ps portal seems to be having more success than this.

 

[mckmas8808]

Fuck me. That's an absolute massacre.

3.2 percent of sales. They should have made it pcvr compatible and it probably needed to be wireless.

All they had to do was care about it after releasing it. They don't talk about PSVR2 at all.

 

[Torrent of Pork]

VR that requires tethered, standalone hardware will always be niche. Like it or not, integral hardware around console prices are the baseline that software devs are going to target.

I'm not joking when I say if Sony were to have launched $550 worth of VR tech in a unit that doesn't require a PS5, they would have actually sold a few of the things.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

Sony sent the PSVR2 out to die.

I feel sorry for anyone that bought it.

Why feel sorry for a device that plays VR extremely well and will get third party games plus exclusives?

“Being sent out to die” doesn’t mean it’s literally dead. There’s no reason it won’t get support

 

[Codes 208]

Oh no, im shook. How could a standalone $300 standalone headset outsell a $550 peripheral that requires another $500 device??

But gaf told me that the psvr2 would leave the meta line in the dust!!

 

[Killjoy-NL]

Percents mean nothing if you don't know the total number they are being averaged against.

was it 12 people? 1200? 12000?

This.

Nevertheless, it is quite telling.
As a PSVR2-owner, I can't say is really use, nor that Sony puts a lot of effort into it's support.
That's why it's getting outsold, PCVR has crazy support.

 

[R6Rider]

Oh no! What will I do now?

*continues to enjoy PSVR2*

 

[Leonidas]

This could have been avoided if Sony released PSVR2 on PC.

 

[AREYOUOKAY?]

The Sega CD / 32X of VR.

Wanna still save it instead of letting it die like the Vita and in some cases the PSVR 1 (Little to no high quality first party support besides Astro Bot)?

Official PC support and a price drop. Done. That way 3rd parties can save your device yet again.

 

[rofif]

What’s new? Even I’ve bought queat2 for my nephew on Christmas.
It sells like crazy because it’s good.

Psvr2 is pretty great yeah, but it’s more expensive, has terrible comfort with halo lens, requires better eyes lol since quest focal length is closer and doesn’t have a fraction of quest2 or especially 3 usability.
I even don’t mind the wire on psvr2. I just personally dislike comfort the most.

Psvr2 is essentially dead and felt so weak after release. Re4 remake is the best thing on it

 

[alucard0712_rus]

I love PSVR2 - it's very simple to use, HDR, blacks...but those lenses are awful after Quest 3.

 

[Ar¢tos]

Psvr2 is supply limited. It's sold out everywhere here because Sony stopped sending units to stores.
After 1 month searching I ended up buying from my ISP store (it was either there or via PS Direct).
The low amount of units might also explain why there hasn't been a price cut.

I don't really understand why it is supply limited, none of the components seems to be something that would have production issues.
Maybe Sony forgot they make the thing and never renewed component contracts...

 

[DenchDeckard]

Not surprising at all. Who wants VR where you have to connect it to a home console with a TV? Yes, PSVR2 I'm sure is fantastic etc etc if you're willing to go through the hassle of having a console to use with it. Meanwhile, I love using my Quest 3. I grab it, fling it on my head and away I go. It's superb. No tethered connection is the only way.

Yeah, quest 3 is amazing.

Those lenses!

 

[Hudo]

To the surprise of no one.

Sony threw PSVR2 on the market and forgot about it. And it doesn't help that it's tied to PS5. If they at least opened it up to use on PC as an HMD, it might be one of the best for its price.

 

[Ronin_7]

It was basically free and you don't need a Console.

In other words: No SHIT.

 

[existensmaximum]

If Sony would start to actually market the PSVR2 and promise some cool first-party games and actual support for it, it might stand a better chance.

 

[Rubim]

If Sony would start to actually market the PSVR2 and promise some cool first-party games and actual support for it, it might stand a better chance.

That would not solve the issue.

VR is not a hidden market gem, you can't use the same tactics you do for your console and assume it will work on your VR.
A $550 purchase after a $499 purchase makes 0 sense.

There's not enough market to be exclusive.

 

[cyberheater]

I’m a big VR fan but I just can’t justify shelling out for a PS5 and PSVR2 to jump into the ecosystem. It’s just too much.

 

[Godot25]

Yeah. There is no way Sony will make PSVR3.

 

[existensmaximum]

That would not solve the issue.

VR is not a hidden market gem, you can't use the same tactics you do for your console and assume it will work on your VR.
A $550 purchase after a $499 purchase makes 0 sense.

There's not enough market to be exclusive.

Not saying it would solve the issue, but it wouldn't hurt. Right now, it's like not even Sony care about their product so why should anyone else?

 

[fastest finger]

Quest - potential market of 7 billion people.

PSVR2 - potential market of 50 million PS5 owners.

Only a tiny proportion of PSVR2 owners bought from Amazon anyway.

 

[StereoVsn]

There are barely any exclusives in the VR realm but even then it wasn't so bad plus there was all the multiplatform VR games like Pavlov, 7th Quest, Arizona Sunshine, etc.
I think people are being a little harsh on the release schedule for the device. These exclusives within a year: GT7, Horizon Call of the mountain, RE8, Switchback VR, Firewall and RE4 just a few weeks ago would be considered a good year in terms of software but I don't think you're going to see some massive exclusive games schedule from any headset really. you barely even get that on base systems. Multiplatform games is going to be the majority of what's in development.

Thing is multi platform larger games don’t really exist. Besides some of the Capcom stuff Sony paid for.

It’s chicken and the egg problem. Not enough people are buying the headset because there isn’t enough software. Publishers won’t produce software as nobody is going to plow $50 - 200 mil for a larger game here.

Hence you mainly have smaller 3rd party titles which don’t move headsets.

 

[Chukhopops]

Even if they opened PC compatibility, I’m not sure it would compete with the Quest which also works standalone, can be used tethered or through WiFi, has better MR and access to Quest exclusives.

IMO PSVR2 is simply outdated in design.

 

[crackajack]

Not a single game announced since the pre-launch reveal, which are all now available. They've barely mentioned the device at all since release.

It definitely gets featured now and then on their blog or in their mail newsletter. Their hype machine in genereal and with VR especially with its fewer titles is just lackluster this gen.

PlayStation VR2

Official PlayStation Blog for news and video updates on PlayStation, PS5, PS4, PS VR, PlayStation Plus and more.

blog.playstation.com

VR’s only mainstream viability is completely self-contained headsets. Sony should pivot PSVR to a standalone system instead of an add-on.

I would say long term VR standalone might be interesting. But for now tethered seems the way to go for anything that really can push any decent display, and not have a atrocious battery life, some lag via streaming, omits the extra weight for all the necessary parts. So having one tethered for max speed, and one without cable but combining all the compromises of the Quest might have been a better strategy, just to counter the Quest with the same offer. But with an even heftier pricepoint...
Even though mobile got much much closer in recent years, we are not entirely at good FHD with decent battery life, so for now, having it self contained makes it like google cardboard VR. Okay for some testing, but not really good either since it limits the actually possible features which are finally growing towards "proper" fauxK/4k. And only optionally tethered or wi-fi stream for a device that has then kinda useless shit built in is entirely stupid. Choose your poison and fully commit to it.


I would say losing Bethesda, which were maybe even more than Capcom and Sony themselves invested/interested in VR, was a major blow in their afterwards perforated strategy. Which was not entirely in their hands to stop. But together with other quite self harming decisions it put them in a bad spot. I at least think id, Arkane and Beth themselves with much more ego games, who already have made Doom VR, Skyrim VR and was just a more natural fit than almost all games Sony, and also Capcom, has, might have been an important pillar in their VR ideas.

I am not even sure if a fire sale can even interest me much with the non existing/ at least not announced games pipeline right now. Maybe just later when there have been some under the radar titles that make it worthwhile?
Whatever, I still have I think 3 unplayed games for VR1 if my VR itch appears.

 

[nbkicker]

I owned the original psvr when it first came out then sold it after a yr due to Sony not supporting it and relying on other publishers to put games out, then bought the latest version of it a bit later when there was a load more games out to play, then when got a quest 2,psvr went back in its box, then last yr considering how sony has been lack of games on ps5, new the psvr2 would be the same, Sony relying on other publishers for games, so held off, since then bought the quest 3 and its miles above anything I’ve used for clarity, no wires is great, then also can connect to my pc and play graphically great games on it as well, plus all my games I bought on quest 2 works on quest 3, rather then the psvr to psvr 2 ,unless sony gets its head out of its arse and starts pushing some vr exclusive games then it will be vita again, Sony pushing hardware and then doesn’t support with software

 

[Ar¢tos]

Yeah. There is no way Sony will make PSVR3.

People said the exact same thing about PSVR2.

Unlike other VR makers, Sony is a main electronics manufacturer with a massive (and profitable) Image & Sensor division.
The R&D costs for making a next gen VR headset is minimal, unlike consoles, it is not sold at loss, so selling a few or a lot, it's all profit for them when combined with their cut of 3rd party games sales.

PSVR2 never needed to be successful, it only needs to exist, It's purpose is to add value to the brand, since Playstation is the only high end console that has a VR solution for those interested in VR.

 

[Ozriel]

Quest - potential market of 7 billion people.

PSVR2 - potential market of 50 million PS5 owners.

Only a tiny proportion of PSVR2 owners bought from Amazon anyway.

Moot point.

Guess where it exclusively launched? or the sales channel that exclusively carried the entire preorders for the device?

Post-launch, I doubt there’s many choosing to buy it on PS Direct vs the other retailers.

 

[Godot25]

People said the exact same thing about PSVR2.

Unlike other VR makers, Sony is a main electronics manufacturer with a massive (and profitable) Image & Sensor division.
The R&D costs for making a next gen VR headset is minimal, unlike consoles, it is not sold at loss, so selling a few or a lot, it's all profit for them when combined with their cut of 3rd party games sales.

PSVR2 never needed to be successful, it only needs to exist, It's purpose is to add value to the brand, since Playstation is the only high end console that has a VR solution for those interested in VR.

???

Sony was/is in VR segment because they expected it to be next big thing and they want to participate in that market. I really doubt that they are in the market for 10k headset sold during holiday period. Also, with less sales there is little reason for developers to port their games on PSVR2 unless Sony will sign cheque to convince them, which obviously costs Sony money.

Signs are pretty telling. Even Sony marked VR as a "challenging category" and they have currently 0 first-party VR games announced.

And if you are sure, then we can bet.

 

[TheThreadsThatBindUs]

Quest - potential market of 7 billion people.

PSVR2 - potential market of 50 million PS5 owners.

Only a tiny proportion of PSVR2 owners bought from Amazon anyway.

Really all that needs to be said.

Don't use a single retailer's sales to extrapolate an entire market.

 

[Ar¢tos]

???

Sony was/is in VR segment because they expected it to be next big thing and they want to participate in that market. I really doubt that they are in the market for 10k headset sold during holiday period. Also, with less sales there is little reason for developers to port their games on PSVR2 unless Sony will sign cheque to convince them, which obviously costs Sony money.

Signs are pretty telling. Even Sony marked VR as a "challenging category" and they have currently 0 first-party VR games announced.

And if you are sure, then we can bet.

Indie developers will very happily port their Quest games to PSVR2.
Sony just paid Capcom for a RE VR mode, you want a new game AAA every month?
Sony has nothing to lose from making a VR headset each time they make a new console, so no reason to stop doing it.

 

[fastest finger]

Moot point.

Guess where it exclusively launched? or the sales channel that exclusively carried the entire preorders for the device?

Post-launch, I doubt there’s many choosing to buy it on PS Direct vs the other retailers.

The poll was taken in December, way out from the pre-order phase.

Besides, it was only exclusively available on PS Direct in limited countries for a limited time. So certainly not moot.

Take PS Direct out of the equation and Amazon still only accounts for less than 1/3 of retail sales.

Take a look at the PSVR2 2023 downloads charts. Beat Saber and Job Simulator featuring among the top 10 (when people migrating from PSVR to PSVR2 had free upgrades which aren’t counted) suggests strong growth over last generation.

Has it set the gaming world alight? Clearly not. But all the doom and gloom feels misplaced.

 

[Godot25]

Indie developers will very happily port their Quest games to PSVR2.
Sony just paid Capcom for a RE VR mode, you want a new game AAA every month?
Sony has nothing to lose from making a VR headset each time they make a new console, so no reason to stop doing it.

And that's exactly my point. Sony paid Capcom for VR mode of RE.

Also, I would like an article about PSVR2 profitability in terms of hardware sales.

 

[diffusionx]

I don't think that paying devs to port their games to VR is the right move. The games that generated the most excitement on Quest were VR only, like AC Nexus and Asgard Wrath 2.

If Sony isn't going to bother making great VR games then they shouldn't bother making VR hardware. It's been almost a year and Astro Bot is nowhere to be seen, either in a port or sequel, it's ridiculous.

 

[FoxMcChief]

Quest - potential market of 7 billion people.

PSVR2 - potential market of 50 million PS5 owners.

Only a tiny proportion of PSVR2 owners bought from Amazon anyway.

That’s likely the hardcore fans. I mean, look at the amount of votes. Casuals shop on Amazon or at Target. Quests were also available directly from Meta too.

 

[sncvsrtoip]

I don't think that paying devs to port their games to VR is the right move. The games that generated the most excitement on Quest were VR only, like AC Nexus and Asgard Wrath 2.

If Sony isn't going to bother making great VR games then they shouldn't bother making VR hardware. It's been almost a year and Astro Bot is nowhere to be seen, either in a port or sequel, it's ridiculous.

Games that generated most excitment on psvr2 by far were gt7, village and re4. Spending money on standalone games like horizon vr is imo waste of money.

 

[fran.fernandez]

Did my part. Bought both.

But I sod my psvr 2 week ago.

 

[AJUMP23]

PSVR2 was dead before it went to market. VR really only makes sense on PC.

 

[Heisenberg007]

Not a surprise, considering Sony has been doing an awful job with PS VR 2.

Little to no marketing and not enough big exclusive games.

 

[DaGwaphics]

It's just too expensive for what you get right now. And with sales this poor it is hard to make a case to develop for it.

However, if they can get some price reductions on it and include VR modes with all of their first-party standard releases you might start to see it come back to life.

 

[saintjules]

Fuck me. That's an absolute massacre.

3.2 percent of sales. They should have made it pcvr compatible and it probably needed to be wireless.

I wish it were wireless, but do you think a majority of people avoiding PSVR2 is because of the wiring alone? I'd love to see some sort of stats on what is hindering the sales.

PC compatibility could be a potential maybe otherwise, but when a majority of PS exclusives aren't on the PC front, what is the initiative/selling point for an existing PC player to go out and get the VR2, especially when the quest series is already well seated in the space?

 

[diffusionx]

Games that generated most excitment on psvr2 by far were gt7, village and re4. Spending money on standalone games like horizon vr is imo waste of money.

I don't think the excitement for Village and RE4 was what it was for RE7. GT7, no surprise, sims are a great use case for VR. Also, I think Cosmic Smash VR is considered one of PSVR2's best titles.

So, needless to say I totally disagree. You need bespoke (DF alert) games that are designed and take advantage of the hardware.

 

[Magic Carpet]

Only a tiny proportion of PSVR2 owners bought from Amazon anyway.

Thats a good point, I got my PSVR2 from Gamestop,
I also got the Quest 3 from Gamestop.

Thinking about it, Sony should(needs) to do things.
1. Backwards compatibility with PSVR 1 games.
2. Redesign the headset with Pancake lenses and much brighter OLED (or go LCD if OLED brightness not enough)
3. Connect with PC both Wireless and Wirelessly. No special store, allow 3rd party app like Steam VR connect.
4. It's too late to make it stand alone capable. (since a redesign is needed might as well make it a whole new skew)
5. Market it as an VR device that the PS5 just so happens to work on the PS5.
6. Allow other devices to work on the PS5. (Quest 3 could also work on a PS5).

 

[sncvsrtoip]

I don't think the excitement for Village and RE4 was what it was for RE7. GT7, no surprise, sims are a great use case for VR. Also, I think Cosmic Smash VR is considered one of PSVR2's best titles.

Was bigger (Village won even best vr title of 2023). Dont think its even debatable that these 3 titles are best games on psvr2.

 

[FoxMcChief]

Thats a good point, I got my PSVR2 from Gamestop,
I also got the Quest 3 from Gamestop.

Thinking about it, Sony should(needs) to do things.
1. Backwards compatibility with PSVR 1 games.
2. Redesign the headset with Pancake lenses and much brighter OLED (or go LCD if OLED brightness not enough)
3. Connect with PC both Wireless and Wirelessly. No special store, allow 3rd party app like Steam VR connect.
4. It's too late to make it stand alone capable. (since a redesign is needed might as well make it a whole new skew)
5. Market it as an VR device that the PS5 just so happens to work on the PS5.
6. Allow other devices to work on the PS5. (Quest 3 could also work on a PS5).

Couldn’t agree more. Same with Xbox.