"After outselling the Vive and Oculus, where does Sony's VR headset stand? PlayStation VR hit the market with a bang in October 2016. It debuted at $400, without the PlayStation Camera or motion controllers. By February, Sony had sold 915,000 headsets -- far surpassing the combined number of HTC Vive and Oculus Rift units estimated to be out in the wild. Sony Interactive Entertainment head Andrew House went on a press tour to brag about the numbers, telling The New York Times PSVR sales were on track to outpace the company's internal goal of 1 million in the first six months. That would have been mid-April."By Jessica Conditt
Microsoft announced its financial results for Q3 of fiscal year 2026, including an update on its gaming Xbox business and more.
Not looking good. Hopefully Asha Sharma is able to turn Phil’s disaster around.
To me it's still quite remarkable how they can cash-in 5.3bn in revenue in a single quarter, since their hardware is basically dead.
The stock mark is what makes Microsoft remarkable, They have convinced every institutional and retail investor to just keep piling money into them. Like many big tech giants they are just a big growing pyramid scheme. As long as people keep dropping money into ETF's that cover the market Microsoft will always be liquid. At the same time it is completely stifling innovation and competition. People need to start being more discreet in how they invest their money as it's killing the system.
Riiiiight because people will just flock back to them for one or two games per year.
15+ years of bad performance is what they call irreparable in business. It is time for them to sell off the assets and get out of entertainment.
These declines are on the back of extra revenue received from releasing games like Forza horizon 5 on PlayStation. So I’m being sarcastic here when I said they should go back to exclusives. Killing off a revenue stream from Ps5 sales will only make things worse
TG writes: If you’ve ever wanted that chaotic, large-scale modern warfare feeling from Battlefield but in full VR immersion, Forefront delivers it better than anything else currently available on Quest.
more sales /= better. I have a Rift as well as a PSVR and I must say, while the headset is actually quite nice, the tracking is quite awful in comparison and thus really dulls the overall experience. Plus not to mention the whole HDR passthrough snafu on the processing box for us PS4 Pro users. That being said, I love VR and I am not giving up on Sony. They need to pump out a few more killer apps to get more people on board. Sadly the PC side has a lot more games available and thus more variety to try out.
PSVR one year in... Let's see.
Although some want to compare PSVR to the *always higher potential* of PC, PS4 is not a PC. And PSVR was made to be a cost effective way to get into VR on consoles without being insanely expensive.
Could Sony have created a $800-$1000 VR headset for PS4/Pro? Sure they could have. The end result though would have been low sales when the console sells for $250+. On PC, cost is usually not a factor for enthusiasts who buy the latest graphics cards, processors, cooling solutions etc. There hasn't been any console that was better at graphics or hardware than PC. So why expect a console peripheral to match or outclass a PC peripheral? Doesn't make sense. But at least PSVR holds its own on 4+ year old console hardware. And contrary to some opinions, the tracking isn't "awful" or it wouldn't be selling and have poor reviews.
So let's break it down and simplify this.
Does PSVR work and create immersive VR experiences? YES
Does PSVR currently have games and newly announced games all the time? YES
Does it have exclusives that give reason for consumers to buy it? YES
Does PSVR sell and does Sony profit from each PSVR sale because they didn't want to sell at a loss? YES and YES.
Then PSVR is doing fine for its first year on sale. Is it perfect? No. Is tracking perfect? No But is PC VR perfect? No. And those that say PSVR should have major 3rd parties putting out games forget that major 3rd parties aren't putting their best teams on PC headsets either.
Those that say Sony isn't supporting it don't know what Sony is making for it. Just like no one knew Spiderman or HZD was being made for PS4. Just like no one had a clue why the DS4 had a tracking light which ended up being for PSVR. Sony has been good this gen of keeping what they're doing closer to their chest this time. No one knows what London studios, or North West studios are making. Just like no one has a clue what MM is doing with Dreams after a successful series of LBP.
PSVR has a long road ahead. And it may be bumpy like any new product that needs a lower price. If after doom, or Skyrim or ace combat 7 or golem or sairento or all the games coming for PSVR doesn't make a dent, it was still **worth every penny.** After 30+ years of gaming, we needed something like motion or hybrid consoles or VR to shake things up. Glad Sony takes risks instead of hyping AR or VR and releasing nothing. PSVR is HERE. And it WORKS.
Stick a fork in it.
I think VR still just isn't there yet. Sure it can offer a different experience, but it's simply not an attractive prospect for most consumers to own.
Look at the data they brought up in the article. VR as a whole is seeing sluggish sales now. PSVR saw strong sales right off the bat and seemed posed to smash Sony's expectations, then it didn't even meet their six-month goal. Overall sales are falling laughably short of analyst predictions. It took PSVR 8 months to sell 1/8th of what Kinect sold in its first 60 days . . . and look at how Kinect ended up.
VR will remain an option for those that want it, but it needs another 3-10 years to grow. It needs to be inexpensive, wireless, the tracking needs to be improved, and we need consoles that can run the games at the needed resolution and frame rates without such a noticeable dip in graphical fidelity. When you can buy a headset for $200 that connects wirelessly and requires no other cables then it might start to catch on.
I get there's people that will disagree because they like VR, enjoy it, use it regularly, etc . . . I'm not saying current VR is bad, by any means, or that it's a poor device . . . I'm simply saying the technology isn't at a point where VR is attractive to the average consumer, and as long as that is the case then it's not going to see mainstream success for at least a few years. Sales are quite clearly reflecting that.