PSVR2 - out now!

[Isaac]

This is not selling anywhere near as much as they hoped. Not surprised given the price.

[LaveDisco]

Depressing. It’s so so good! 

[thesnwmn]

Not as well as they hoped but exactly as well as surely everyone else expected right?

 

Lucky they didn't lower their expectations and vehemently refuted the reports they had just before launch. Although I felt they never denied they had reduced their expected sales (which was what was reported), only that they had not cut their manufacturing quota (which in some ways is worse as it means they've probably got warehouses full of these things).

 

Hard to say if putting them for sale in other store would have helped much. I doubt it (too expensive and too small a realistic audience) but it could have done a good job of burning scalpers.

 

I don't say any of this because I'm happy it's doing poorly. If I had s PS5 I know I'd have bought one. But I think people need to temper their expectations about the addressable market of any VR headset is at the moment.

[PaB]

1 hour ago, Isaac said:

This is not selling anywhere near as much as they hoped. Not surprised given the price.

Wasn’t this guy found out to be full

of shit just recently? It’s just journalists and analysts speculating. If it’s drops in price then that’s a good thing. More people will buy one. 

I suspect though that adoption is in line with projections given the launch price 

[geldra]

Ouch. Not good news for those of us with headsets.  
 

If I was in the market for one right now I’d definitely be holding off a purchase expecting a price drop. 

[Stanley]

Arr, sad news but not unexpected. It’s a wonderful piece of hardware with some truly exceptional games, but it’s not for everyone. 

[thesnwmn]

15 minutes ago, PaB said:

Wasn’t this guy found out to be full

of shit just recently? It’s just journalists and analysts speculating. If it’s drops in price then that’s a good thing. More people will buy one. 

I suspect though that adoption is in line with projections given the launch price 

 

Maybe he is.

 

I don't think there will be a price cut for a while. I don't think they'll want to take the hit and I'm not sure a price cut meaningfully changes the equation. Does a £100 or even £150 cut really suddenly sell a million more of these things?

 

I suspect that a lack of enough exclusives and looming Quest 3 keep it muted whatever.

[Rayn]

VR always was, and still is, niche.

There's no way it'll be mainstream when you factor in the cost of aquiring a proper VR2 experience. Not only will you need a grand+ worth of 1st party hardware, you'll still need to splash out on software.

Those who were left unimpressed by the VR1 is not likely to adopt to VR2, especially since it's not backwards compatible. Also, the range of games available is quite limited if you boil it down to genres and specific types of games. 

 

I think there needs to be some killer games, like Astrobot VR Adventures 2, Alyx and perhaps something completely fresh. I guess it would also help if more currently available games got VR2 support.

Heck, make Minecraft VR2 compatible and they would start to shift hardware in an instant. Or get a deal with Lego and make Lego VR Builder, that'd attract the average gamer.

The current lineup, while impressive for us hardcore enthusiasts, a racing sim, a horror game and a online shooter won't be anywhere near enough to tempt the below 30 year olds to spend the amount of cash required. 

 

I've three three gamers in the office, aged 25-31, none of them are tempted by VR2 based on the lack of interesting games (their words, not mine). I brought my gear to the office the other day and they were VERY impressed by it, but they still weren't tempted as they'd basically have to spend £500 to play 2-3 games (this is based on what's currently available, ofc). 

Unless there's a huge leap in available titles, or the price is significantly reduced, they won't get it. 

 

Personally I will spend a lot of time on VR2, especially if they continue to pump out interesting games, but it seems I'll have a hard time convincing fellow gamers to make the investment in the near future. 

[Eighthours]

3 hours ago, Isaac said:

This is not selling anywhere near as much as they hoped. Not surprised given the price.

 

This story is presented in such a bollocks way, as PS VR2 currently has fuck all to do with a 'metaverse push'. It's a headset that plays games, that's it.

 

Also, 'expects' is doing a lot of heavy lifting. No one knows the numbers at this point. My advice is always not to blindly believe tweeted out stories with no backup as fact, and if you read parts of a story that are clearly rubbish (metaverse push), assume that the rest could be the same. Worth reiterating that this journo got absolutely roasted for his last 'Sony's headset is doomed' story, so this one is just continuing the agenda.

 

My own feeling is that the headset will have sold as per low expectations, but that the launch brought quite a bit of momentum that can hopefully be capitalised on in the rest of the year.

[Dirty Harry Potter]

VR is definitely for the hardcore for now. And PSVR2 represents the best value way in to a high end experience as of today. Sony must know this too. They have been producing expensive video headsets for over a decade now and I think are taking a bet on the long game for this stuff. 
 

I’m also sure they have factored in discounting it over time, just like they did the PSVR 1.

 

Do I regret buying one at launch? Not one bit, I have had some of my most visceral gaming experiences of the last five years on it - and that is worth the cost of early adoption for me all by itself. 

[tobert]

I have played my VR 2 almost every day since getting it and love it.  My hope is that, given the controllers and features broadly match Quest and PCVR (no more move controllers like PSVR1, standard controllers you know everyone has etc) that developers treat "VR" as a platform and make their games available across as many formats as possible to spread dev cost which means a health flow of games. 

[Majora]

Personally, I just don't trust Sony to continue to support this thing. To my mind they're nearly as bad as Google for introducing new products and then abandoning them after a couple of years. Outside of their home consoles, they have a wretched track record from Move to Vita to PSVR of bringing new hardware to market, showing some half-hearted first party support during the launch window, then quietly moving all first-party support back to the main console and relying on third parties to barely keep things afloat.

 

I have no faith whatsoever that things will be any different with PSVR2. I cant say I blame them (why would you get Naughty Dog to spend years developing an exclusive blockbuster for a peripheral with a userbase in the hundreds of thousands?) but therein lies the conundrum. Until Sony treat PSVR as a main event it will never break out of a niche with gamers who know full well that PS5 is where it's at for all the biggest games. But they can't afford to compromise first-party support for PS5 by focusing their studios on a niche and expensive optional peripheral.

 

Launching a £500+ peripheral during an economic downturn was never going to go particularly well but even if the economic climate was better I still don't think it would have done much better. 

[Eighthours]

14 minutes ago, tobert said:

I have played my VR 2 almost every day since getting it and love it.  My hope is that, given the controllers and features broadly match Quest and PCVR (no more move controllers like PSVR1, standard controllers you know everyone has etc) that developers treat "VR" as a platform and make their games available across as many formats as possible to spread dev cost which means a health flow of games. 

 

My only issue with that is how the baseline is currently Quest 2, which ensures that while we can get higher res, more detailed, quicker loading and lovely haptics in multi-platform games (as seen with the launch), game design will always lag behind what is possible on the new headset. One of the reasons that PS VR2 is an exciting headset for many PC owners, or so I've heard, is that the promise of high-end VR games is potentially back. Maybe the Quest 3 will be a powerful enough baseline in future to allow this, though, I dunno.

[Eighthours]

4 hours ago, Majora said:

Personally, I just don't trust Sony to continue to support this thing. To my mind they're nearly as bad as Google for introducing new products and then abandoning them after a couple of years. Outside of their home consoles, they have a wretched track record from Move to Vita to PSVR of bringing new hardware to market, showing some half-hearted first party support during the launch window, then quietly moving all first-party support back to the main console and relying on third parties to barely keep things afloat.

 

I have no faith whatsoever that things will be any different with PSVR2. I cant say I blame them (why would you get Naughty Dog to spend years developing an exclusive blockbuster for a peripheral with a userbase in the hundreds of thousands?) but therein lies the conundrum. Until Sony treat PSVR as a main event it will never break out of a niche with gamers who know full well that PS5 is where it's at for all the biggest games. But they can't afford to compromise first-party support for PS5 by focusing their studios on a niche and expensive optional peripheral.

 

Launching a £500+ peripheral during an economic downturn was never going to go particularly well but even if the economic climate was better I still don't think it would have done much better. 

 

We'll see more as things progress, but reading between the lines of what Sony has been saying, part of the plan is to VR-ify its first party games as an 'alongside' thing. Now, whether this just means a lame side-mode in the next God of War or being able to play the full game in VR a la Resident Evil Village or GT7, we don't yet know. The latter, please! These hybrid games are potentially how the headset gets various compelling, high end games without a megabudget going into a black hole for what is currently a niche product. Best case scenario is that there will be a whole bunch of these games and they drive headset sales, particularly if it gradually drops in price.

 

For example (and this may be a fanciful prediction, given how motion sickness could be a bad one for this and how soon after the headset launch it's appearing), but what if Spider-Man 2 had a VR mode? Nothing changes (ie. no first-person vomit fest), just it's the full game in VR in the normal third-person view. Astro Bot Rescue Mission showed how third person can really work in VR, and I'm surprised that so few games take advantage of this. Insomniac is one of the best technical devs out there, as we've seen with all the myriad graphics modes in Miles Morales and Ratchet. What price a VR option?

[Petrousgyre]

2 hours ago, Majora said:

they have a wretched track record from Move to Vita to PSVR of bringing new hardware to market, showing some half-hearted first party support during the launch window, then quietly moving all first-party support back to the main console

Not sure how true that is. PSVR itself was well supported by Sony for several years, Far Point came out the year after PSVR’s release, Astrobot, Bravo Team and WipeoutVR came out two years after release, Blood and Truth and Firewall three years after release. There was a bunch of third party exclusives too. Certainly wouldn’t describe most of them as half hearted either. 

 

Vita was also quite well supported for 3-4 years, it just didn’t sell.

 

‘Wretched’ seems a bit strong. I’ll maybe give you Move controllers although they became integral to PSVR a few years later. Even then, none of those peripherals were as poorly supported as Kinect2, Wii Fit Balance Board or Ring-Con. 

[Strafe]

In fairness, the ring con came with a dedicated game for it at regular game RRP. I don’t think anyone expected it to be a big add on.

 

I think Sony need to get this into proper retail so people can play Gran Turismo or Horizon riverboat tour in Game or similar. That’s going to sell some units.

 

I’m glad GT7 VR was free but this has meant it hasn’t been really talked about as a brand new game for VR, which I think it kind of is. Same with RE Village.

[tobert]

VR really feels like something people have to try to be convinced, no matter how many times you tell someone you are "in" the game in VR, people are still surprised by teh immersion when they first try it

[Stanley]

14 minutes ago, Strafe said:

I’m glad GT7 VR was free but this has meant it hasn’t been really talked about as a brand new game for VR, which I think it kind of is. Same with RE Village.

Totally agree with this, whilst everyone is raving about the RE4 remake I’m thinking, you ain’t see nothing. RE Village isn’t a remake of course but the shift to VR makes it feel much more than that.
 

I’m trying to avoid using the word ‘transformative’ - it’s the new ‘revolutionary’ 

[makkuwata]

I routinely pop it on to do laps in the online GT7 time trial for however long the podcast I’m listening to takes to finish.

[Eighthours]

11 minutes ago, tobert said:

VR really feels like something people have to try to be convinced, no matter how many times you tell someone you are "in" the game in VR, people are still surprised by teh immersion when they first try it

 

I'm still surprised every time a race starts in GT7! There's something about the sudden transition there that's magical.

[shirubagan]

Has anyone played Ragnaröck or The Last Worker? The Viking Metal playlist of the former is very appealing and it looks more fun than the other drumming one (which fails as drumming as it has no kick pedal). 

 

 

[Fused gamer]

That article is from the same guy who made up the numbers on Sony cutting volumes of headsets being made.

 

Also, the majority of headsets are sold directly by Sony, so where is he getting the numbers from?

[Stanley]

I mean the article is bollocks clearly having finally had a chance to read it. 
 

Sony CEO Yoshida focussed on Metaverse to drive PSVR2 growth. Like, what? 

[tobert]

On 29/03/2023 at 12:52, tobert said:

Pavlov 8:30pm tomorrow - the wife is out so I will be setting up a lobby for a couple of hours, all welcome, the skill level will be low but hopefully the laughs high.

 

PSN ID: Tobert1979, I normally leave the lobby open to fill spaces so message me if you can’t get in, and I will kick a random and send you an invite

 

 

Quick reminder that I will be opening a Pavlov

lobby tonight from 8:30 for a couple of hours, all welcome

[boybrown]

Wanderer is half price (in the UK at least) £17.49 but there has been no rock solid news on if they are doing a PSVR2 port upgrade path or even a port tbf. I always wanted to play this game. Sold my PSVR way before it came out and didn't have access to PCVR. 

[shirubagan]

Pavlov? The name rings a bell. 

[Eighthours]

28 minutes ago, tobert said:

Quick reminder that I will be opening a Pavlov

lobby tonight from 8:30 for a couple of hours, all welcome

I’ll be on at some point, but probs more like 9.30pm. 

[cassidy]

I think you forget like literally forget if you don't use the VR2 only for a day or two. How fucking mindblowingly impressive it is. GT7 is so fucking good. And I'm now on menu 37.

 

I'd never have got that far playing flat. 

 

[Jolly]

My PSVR2 arrived literally yesterday and I haven't even used it yet so should a price drop be imminent you're all very welcome.

[Steven]

21 minutes ago, cassidy said:

I think you forget like literally forget if you don't use the VR2 only for a day or two. How fucking mindblowingly impressive it is. GT7 is so fucking good. And I'm now on menu 37.

 

I'd never have got that far playing flat. 

 

 

I spent an hour trying to get a gold on one licence this morning - just couldn't stop playing. Wouldn't have picked up the flat version in a million years.