PlayStation VR surprises with $399 price point
Release in October 2016
Sony received a round of applause when it announced the final price and release date for PlayStation VR - $399 (£349) and on shelves in October 2016.
Andrew House, president and group CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment, also announced that an exclusive Star Wars Battlefront game for PlayStation was currently in development at EA's DICE studio, and more information would be available soon. Currently 230 developers are working on content for PlayStation VR.
Date and prices: #PSVRpic.twitter.com/Do2pQxDRXh
— GamesIndustry (@GIBiz) March 15, 2016
The final design of the headset is very similar to the most recent prototypes and the specs feature an OLED 5.7-inch screen capable of a 1920 x 1080 RGB image with a 120Hz refresh rate, and 360 degree tracking with 9 LEDs. The price does not include PlayStation Move controllers or a PlayStation camera.
"To achieve such a compelling launch price was far from an easy task. It requires tapping into the expertise that we've gained across engineering, design and manufacturing throughout the past two decades," said House.
"Virtual reality represents a new frontier for gaming, one that will forever change the way users interact with games by giving them deeper feelings of immersion and a true sense of presence inside the virtual environment. Once again PlayStation will be leading the charge of introducing new technology to advance the world of interactive entertainment.
Final consumer PSVR specifications pic.twitter.com/gBN5vLiHjb
— GamesIndustry (@GIBiz) March 15, 2016
"We believe PlayStation VR is best placed to bring VR to the mainstream given the unparalleled VR experience we're offering at a tremendous value, along with the strength of our ecosystem and the momentum of our brand."
Remember Saturn and Dreamcast? Just the announcement of a new Sony console was enough to eat severely into their sales even when they were the only ones on the market.
Also, by October, game developers will have had some real world experience with VR titles to apply that knowledge to their PSVR launch titles.
This could be a real winner for casual gamers who's PS4's have been collecting dust.
As I can't see anyone wearing this for an hour or more, this wont appeal to hard-core gamers at all (other than an initial novelty) but it might just give the casual gamers a reason to power up their PS4's again (and spend some $$).
Edited 1 times. Last edit by Carl Hudson on 16th March 2016 4:58am
So regarding mainstream adoption it would seem that Sony will be in the best position, especially with a installed base of some 40m. Will be a very interesting E3!
So will this force Oculus to do a Xbone bundle? And the big question has to be, with some 50 game titles for the end of the year on PSVR has Oculus the ability to keep relevant after the initial shine fades?
Edited 1 times. Last edit by kevin williams on 16th March 2016 8:27am
The tethered market may not be able to compete with the mobile, untethered sector if Samsung Gear technology offers the same high quality experience. With billions of smartphones to chase, Samsung is well placed to dominate the VR games market if it builds a compelling games roster.
Edited 1 times. Last edit by John Nejady on 16th March 2016 10:55am
- Sony will have no competitors on PS4. No Oculus, Samsung, Glyph, Cardboard or any of the other myriad of VR devices coming to PC/mobile;
- PS4 is fixed hardware - everybody's PS4 is the same (this has always been the advantage with console) ... making it much, much easier for developers to create smooth, immersive experiences;
- PS4 owners are invested in gaming experiences - not all mobile phone or PC owners are;
- PlayStationVR owners can be confident that they won't need to buy further expensive hardware upgrades in the near future;
- the VR experience won't be interrupted by antivirus software, Skype calls, or OS intrusions / slowdowns that would ruin the immersive experience.
Personally, I think Sony will absolutely win the VR war this time around.
Whether or not VR in itself will win? That's another argument... VR is something that I've never believed would become mass-market. certainly not for many years...
All Sony has to do is to take the names of popular IPs and beat the competition to death with it. Seems a simple enough plan for convention season. VR is not just about providing a better, more immediate projection of the player being a race driver or pilot in a space war, it is about the specific brands attached to those dreams. This will give each of Sony's punches that much more weight when leveraging brand nostalgia. If you consider EA's potential strength in that department and reluctance to release PC software on anything but their own Origin platform, you can see where Valve and Facebook are troubled and Sony is not.
XboxOne is down for the count. It had most of its privileges revoked, e.g. making in house developed video games exclusive to only one of Microsoft's platforms and other Xbox-platform protective measures. While Hololens was something to put up against VR at the time, it will not help Xbox going forward. Between Sony, PC and whatever Nintendo comes up with, the XboxOne runs the risk of having all the latest games, while still looking incredibly old at the same time.
How does Playstation VR compare?
I tried the PlayStation VR a few months ago and the experience is solid. I haven't tried the Vive or the final version of the Oculus, so I can't make comparisons, but the PSVR did provide a great experience and very good sense of presence. I could notice the individual leds of the display, but only if I made a real effort to focus on that. It was barely noticeable.
The main issue with VR will be how to get people to try it, apart from tech enthusiasts. You really need to experience it to realize how great it is, regardless of the platform. Otherwise it will be hard to convince people to buy weird expensive helmets. I believe that will be the final obstacle to the wide adoption of VR.