Sony to Ramp Up PlayStation VR Production

Sony’s winning with its console VR solution.

The first wave of virtual reality is now upon us; in the high-end PC space, in the mobile space, and – with PlayStation VR – in the console space. VR is for the enthusiast at the moment. It still has a long way to go, but it’s established itself as the most immersive way to play video games by far. It’s not going to take over and become the norm, but it’s not going to die, either. It’s like motion controls; just a new and great way to engage with our games.

Sony had the benefit of watching HTC and Oculus as they stumbled through the launches of their respective VR units, which for most are too expensive – especially considering the limitations this early in the game. PlayStation VR represents a great middle-ground. It’s a cheaper VR solution that can work with any of the 40+ million PS4s out there. Shortly after launch, things are looking really good.

SCEE president Jim Ryan painted an optimistic picture in a recent interview on CNBC. “We know from the data we have from pre-orders that the interest we have is significant,” he said, affirming that, at launch, he expects sales to be in the “many hundreds of thousands.” With the holiday season looming, Sony plans to ramp up production as well in order to meet demand. “We have made decisions to further increase capacity at the back end of 2016 and into 2017, so there are going to be a lot of PlayStation VRs around the world, whether that’s enough to satisfy the demands of the market, we’ll see.”

I believe that the major advances we see in VR in the next year or two will be made first on PlayStation VR. Sony is positioned to provide and analyze the data from millions of users playing games in VR for the first time. What works, and what doesn’t? Which genres lend themselves to VR most appealingly? What other forms of media will gamers be willing to pay for and consume? Sony will be conducting that research very soon, and making a killing all the while.

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Matthew Hayes

Matthew loves colorful, grindy, Japanese RPGs and esoteric philosophy - if you want to buy him something for his birthday and need inspiration, that's all you need to know. He is a full-time writer, lover of dogs, and book hoarder. While typically quiet and kind, Matthew does get aggressively competitive in online multiplayer games (sometimes he cusses). Favorite games include: Persona 4 Golden, Final Fantasy VII / Tactics Advance, Dark Souls, Rainbow Six Siege, Soul Calibur 4, Jet Grind Radio, and SaGa Frontier. For corrections, tips, or leads, you can reach out to Matthew at hayesface7@gmail.com.

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View Comments

Torreth says:

October 17, 2016 at 11:07 am

I got mine at midnight launch from gamestop. I truly believe that its releasing at the proper time in the year, but what is going to happen is there will first be very few systems selling , but during the second week, when people show their friends, there will be a super massive wave that will overwhelm all of sonys projections. To me, Sony really had no clue how to show people what they've created, and so they pretty much didnt try. Since they wanted consumers to do this, instead of spending their money for advertising, they bought demo disks instead.They are relying on early adopters to do their hard work for them. It will work brilliantly, but Im sure investors are going to panic at first.
- Matthew says:
  
  October 17, 2016 at 11:36 am
  
  I heard that the demo disc is one of the best demos ever. That was definitely a bold and smart move on their part. The list of games on that demo is incredible. Have you played Thumper?
- James Logan says:
  
  October 18, 2016 at 3:11 am
  
  yep, that's what happened got mine day one, and as others use it they become hooked..for Batman Arkham is spectacular, rush of blood is super intense also a fantastic game.