It took Sony’s Business Segment Meeting 2023 to finally have official PlayStation VR 2 sales figures. the economic media relayed. The PSVR 2 is even having a better launch than the first model of 2016, with 600,000 copies sold in the space of 6 weeks. This represents an increase of 8% compared to the first PlayStation VR, which was nevertheless sold at a lower price and even benefited from a larger installed base of PS4. But we must nevertheless remember that we were in 2016 and that at that time, virtual reality was still a fledgling market, and not yet very open to the general public.
However, it is necessary to know how to take a step back from these figures, because if the disaster announced by Bloomberg (which revealed that 270,000 copies had been sold over the first 4 weeks of sale), it must still be remembered that Sony was counting on 2 million copies produced at the end of March 2023, one month after its release. Great ambitions undoubtedly linked to a greater popularity of virtual reality in a global way, sales of the PS5 in permanent growth, and above all the confidence of a public ready to acquire premium products, even at high prices. It is obviously still too early to know if the PSVR 2 can be considered a failure, especially since Jim Ryan refuses to comment on the subject, believing that it takes time to judge the popularity of the helmet and especially the public appetite.
“PSVR 2 has just been released, so it may be a little early to judge its popularity, but we are pleased to see the many positive reactions from users and the media (…) We will continue to go forward so that those who buy PSVR 2 can enjoy it for as long as possible and that we can also ensure our profits” advances Jim Ryan in an interview with Famitsu. In any case, sales of the headset are now open to other resellers and the device is finally available in stores, but we can nevertheless speak of a small disappointment, especially since VR is now a much more popular market than there was. at 7 years old.