According to Bloomberg, Sony needs to sell its unsold stock of PlayStation VR2 headsets so it can make more.
Since its February 2023 launch, sales of the VR device have slowed “progressively” with each quarter. In proportion to those declining sales, inventory has gone up throughout Sony’s supply chain.
2 million units of the PSVR2 were prepared ahead of launch, which Sony openly touted. While it outsold the original PlayStation VR in a number of weeks, Sony’s since been vague on the device’s sales performance.
In March 2023, an analyst suggested it would behoove Sony to cut the PSVR2’s price to draw in more buyers. As it stands, the device is $550, more than an actual PlayStation 5.
How VR fell out of favor
The PlayStation VR2 has somewhat fallen out of grace in just a year, but its issues are part of a larger VR downturn.
Headset pricing has often made VR a hard sell. In 2022 and 2023, Meta raised (then lowered) the price of various Quest headsets because the original asking price ranged between $499-$1,500.
While the PSVR2 has a sizable library, most of it comes from third-party studios. Its VR-heavy studio, Sony London, was closed down last month as it was working on a live-service title.
This past February, Sony said it was working on giving PC support to the PSVR2. That support is reportedly coming later in the year, and if it works well, may get the device out of its funk.