PSVR2 launch sales significantly outpace PSVR despite $549 price tag

It's official: Sony's second-gen PlayStation VR2 is drastically outpacing the original PSVR headset.

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The PlayStation VR2 is off to a good start, at least when compared to first PlayStation VR headset. In a recent business stream to investors, Sony Interactive Entertainment's Epic Lempel confirmed that PSVR2 launch numbers have not only exceeded that of the PSVR1, but the new PS5-powered headset has sold nearly 600,000 units worldwide.

For reference, it took the PSVR1 headset five months to achieve 915,000 unit sales.

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The news is surprising for two reasons. The first is that VR is still largely a nascent market in the grand scheme of hardware, but Meta's lower-cost Quest headsets have helped spark wider consumer adoption. The second is that the PlayStation VR2 is quite an expensive piece of technology.

The PSVR2 launched in February 2023 for $549, which exceeds the cost of the most expensive PlayStation 5 model by some $50. Since a PS5 is needed to actually use the HMD, consumers would need to spend a minimum of $950 for high-powered VR on the new PlayStation platform.

There were early reports that the PSVR2 was largely failing to gain traction on the market, however our data sets that sourced public Sony info had indicated the opposite.

The PSVR2 was also a significant contributor to Sony's record-breaking $2.5 billion generated in its Others segment, which includes peripherals like PSVR1 & 2 sales, as well as accessories and PC game revenues.

We have to wonder if the PSVR2 will continue performing well in this current inflation-driven economy, but we'll have to wait for Sony's Q1'FY23 results to have a better idea of what's happening.