Sony has reportedly halted production of new PSVR 2 units until the current backlog of headsets is sold out.
The news comes according to a new Bloomberg report, indicating that PSVR 2 sales have fallen every quarter since its launch in February last year. Particularly notable are the Q4 2023 sales figures, which show Sony sold approximately 325,000 units. That’s a fraction of Meta’s 1.3 million headsets sold, although this is likely due to the launch of Meta Quest 3 on top of continued strong sales of the Meta Quest 2.
Yijia Zhai, an analyst at financial group Macquarie, made a statement to Bloomberg describing why PSVR 2 could struggle: “The high price of VR hardware is the main barrier to its expansion,” Zhai said. “Currently, there are only a limited number of games that support VR devices, and that will also lead to a lack of motivation among players to purchase VR hardware. This limited content also has a reason: the development costs for VR games are significant higher than that of normal titles.”
The news comes shortly after PlayStation laid off roughly 8% of its global workforce, including the closure of London Studios and “downsizing” at Horizon: Call from the mountain developer Firesprite; both studios are heavily involved in the development of PSVR 2.
Additionally, plans have been announced to bring PC support to PSVR 2, but we have yet to see this become a reality. Ideally, this planned PC support will be accompanied by a price drop for the expensive VR headset, which Sony has stubbornly left out since launch.
Also likely, and much more bleak, is the idea that PC support could be Sony’s way of wrapping up support for PSVR 2; refocusing its efforts on PS5 and future hardware like a potential PS5 Pro and of course PlayStation 6. But in the meantime, if Sony wants to sell its current crop of PSVR 2 units, a substantial price drop seems likely. are on the cards.
Do you have a PSVR 2? Be sure to check out our guides to the best PSVR 2 games And best PSVR 2 accessories to ensure you get the best possible experience before PC support comes to the device.