Sony has reportedly temporarily halted production of the PlayStation VR2 in order to clear a backlog of unsold units.
Bloomberg Sales of the $550 virtual reality headset have gradually slowed since its launch in February 2023, causing a buildup of inventory. According to the site, Sony has produced “over” two million PSVR2 units.
The relative success of the PSVR2 was called into question earlier this year when Sony announced a number of upcoming games for the device, none of which were from first-party studios. Then, as part of a wave of devastating layoffs affecting 900 employees, Sony's London studio focused on virtual reality was slated for closure. IGN investigated the case of the PSVR2 as part of a feature that painted a bleak picture of Sony's VR headset, which appears abandoned at this point.
Six weeks after launch, Sony announced that the PSVR2 had sold nearly 600,000 units. Analysts indicate that it sold just over a million units in its first year. Last December, Eric Lempel, head of global business at SIE, told Financial Times that the PSVR2 was “a bit of a tough category right now,” adding that he thought “there are higher expectations overall for what VR will do in gaming.” It appears that the PSVR 2 sold poorly during the 2023 holiday season. RoadToVR tracked Amazon sales of Meta Quest 2 and 3 compared to the PSVR2 during the holiday season and found The Meta headsets outsold the PSVR2 significantly.
Where does PSVR2 go from here? Sony is currently testing PC compatibility, which it said will allow PSVR 2 players to access more VR games via PC. This opens the door for users to access more games that aren't available on PSVR2, but it doesn't address the lack of first-party support from Sony itself.
Wesley is IGN's UK news editor. You can find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can contact Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].
