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Sony halts PSVR2 production (Bloomberg)

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unkindlynice

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www.bloomberg.com

Sony Hits Pause on PSVR2 Production as Unsold Inventory Piles Up

Sony Group Corp. has paused production of its PSVR2 headset until it clears a backlog of unsold units, according to people familiar with its plans, adding to doubts about the appeal of virtual reality gadgets.
www.bloomberg.com www.bloomberg.com

RIP PSVR2 and I guess console VR in general for some time. This reminds me of Vita with the hardware team going some direction and none of the studios being interested.

Sony do seem to have some cultural issues. If they wanted PSVR2 they should have put their foot down with studios and demanded output from all of them.

Quest continues to prove that these devices need to be standalone imo - VR is more akin to mobile/social experiences than this idea of AAA VR experiences.
 
This whole venture into VR was a (very expensive) mistake. The thing needed to be standalone and/or PC compatible to be enticing to consumers, but they wanted it to be a selling point as an accessory to their main product.

The silver lining in this is that it was priced so expensive the that probably didn't bleed THAT much money in it. But who knows, R&D was probably a lot.
 
Belthazar said:
The silver lining in this is that it was priced so expensive the that probably didn't bleed THAT much money in it. But who knows, R&D was probably a lot.
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Like with the GAAS debacle its a massive opportunity cost. Wasted time and resources that could have gone into something else.

I mean let's say you put the same hardware team and software resources into a Switch competitor? Now I've already touched on cultural issues within Sony preventing this but its still a missed opportunity.
 
Beyond the overall struggles of the VR market, PSVR2 specifically was an incoherent product.

As a new entrant into a market dominated by Meta, it needed to differentiate itself. And that it did, on the hardware front. It was filling the high-end niche where it would be the high resolution / eye-tracked / OLED headset that would be capable of experiences the Quest wouldn't be because it required a PS5. All that came with downsides of high cost, and a wire. And then Sony proceeded to essentially make no games that justify its existence. If 99% of games are from the Quest library, then why does this have a wire? Why does it require a PS5? Why is $550? It does not justify its own existence.

It's such an essential failure of customer identification and product planning. This thing made it to market on hopes and prayers, and those don't seem to be going very far.
 
unkindlynice said:
Like with the GAAS debacle its a massive opportunity cost. Wasted time and resources that could have gone into something else.

I mean let's say you put the same hardware team and software resources into a Switch competitor? Now I've already touched on cultural issues within Sony preventing this but its still a missed opportunity.
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They'd have a similar issue with support if they made a switch competitor. There's pretty much a no-win situation if you have to split resources like this
 
ILikeFeet said:
They'd have a similar issue with support if they made a switch competitor. There's pretty much a no-win situation if you have to split resources like this
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Yup at this point they should take a note out of Nintendo's book and just double down on the business they're reliably successful in. It has done wonders for Nintendo's software output.
 
Deckard Cain said:
I’d love to be a fly on the wall in the new CEOs office. He seems to have inherited a mess.
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I hate to see a bean counter as head of a creative business... But unfortunately that's kinda what PlayStation needs at the moment.

Hopefully whenever he finds a replacement as SIE's head, it's someone that's also focused on improving their margins.
 
Belthazar said:
I hate to see an accountant as head of a creative business... But unfortunately that's kinda what PlayStation needs at the moment.
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In this case I don't think he can bear any of the blame, as he was handed an already dead platform.
 
If wasn't for the announced PC suport, probably production would not being halted but shut down.
 
Belthazar said:
I hate to see a bean counter as head of a creative business... But unfortunately that's kinda what PlayStation needs at the moment.

Hopefully whenever he finds a replacement as SIE's head, it's someone that's also focused on improving their margins.
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Yeah. Between ballooning development costs for first party software, Jim Ryan's questionable live service push, and the failure of PSVR2, Hiroki Totoki definitely has his work cut out for him trying to raise SIE's profit margins.
 
unkindlynice said:
This reminds me of Vita with the hardware team going some direction and none of the studios being interested.
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At least both consumers and third parties put a lot of effort and enthusiasm into the Vita. This? Nobody wanted this.

Sony thought that if they built it, they would come. As if we were still in the late 90s. I'm really baffled how this made it to market with seemingly NO plan for support.
 
To the surprise of absolutely no one.... Sony is pumping the brakes on this project.
Because the one thing that can't happen with a retail product is happening.... they are sitting on a large mass of inventory.
Belthazar said:
I hate to see a bean counter as head of a creative business... But unfortunately that's kinda what PlayStation needs at the moment.
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For a long time PlayStation's failures, not matter how big, were subsisted by the Sony Group. I think that something during the PS3 spurting broke that idea and smashed it into dust. The Group has been rather clear since, if PlayStation fails... it's on it's own. Their will be no savoir or bailout. Hiroki Totoki, like him or hate him, comes from that Group... they are in control.

I am all for creativity BUT... if it isn't putting food in bellies and keep rents paid, what is the point?
 
Necrolipe said:
I mean, this was expected after London Studio being closed last month
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London Studio was working on a GaaS game for PS5.

This was expected because after a mediocre launch, PSVR2 sales cratered in the following quarters.
If IDC estimates are in the right ballpark (total shipments: ~1.7M), I'm actually surprised SIE could ship that many headsets.
I'm wondering how many units are sitting in the channel...
 
image.png


(IDC estimates)
 
Then there is the elephant in the room for these VR platforms: players usage retention.

Not only PSVR2 is struggling to sell the hardware but I bet the usage among the hardware buyers is low and their investment into the software ecosystem is very small.
 
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It's fun to go back to the PSVR2 announcement thread on here. Lots were convinced at the time that Horizon showed Sony was serious and would supply a decent amount of AAA VR games and it would grow the market.

A good lesson on not counting chickens before they hatch.

It looks like horizon might be one of the only Sony games on the device!
 
Jeff Grubb did say in one of his Game Mess podcats that the VR2 was not really wanted by Playstation but it was the wish of Sony and their "Hardware Department".
Playstation kind of just unwillingly fallowed that project and with the support (not)provided let it die.
In big multinational corporations big financial failures can be just a result of internal conflicts.
 
Sony wanted to make history with $550 peripheral for PS5 since there is no previous successful peripheral at that price point.... they failed
 
saicho said:
Sony wanted to make history with $550 peripheral for PS5 since there is no previous successful peripheral at that price point.... they failed
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Don't understand who is the market when a Quest has better software support and a better price point.
 
I wonder how much they lost on the RnD of this, because it's been a pretty clear sunk-cost release of sorts with limited drive behind it at the end.

I don't want to say they wrote it off and such, but the way this has gone its like any enthusiasm for it was lost probably years ago but was much too late to toss out all of the work and research done on it.

Sony's eventual hope will probably be that PC saves the headset and gives it and their tech a new lease on life.

Concurseiro do Futuro said:
Instead of PSVR2 and PS Portal, Sony should have done a new Playstation Portable or a Playstation 5 Series S.
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Unlikely it would have faired any better as it would have the same issues and would have had a tiny software profile. Sony cannot support it and cutting edge PS5 games simultaneously, and from third parties it would have ended up in an even worse position than the Switch.
 
Too expensive as an entry point. System + Headset is about $1200 CND here compared to $600 for a Quest 3
 
They went from effectively the most broadly adopted consumer VR headset for years through the PSVR to this. There were many fantastic factors that came together to make the first iteration attractive and successful, but almost none carried over. Being an accessory to the PS4 and priced tolerably for its space, the combined investment of a console and headset made the PSVR one of the cheapest ways to get into gaming with VR. Alongside support from independent developers, major first party output from internal studios, and console exclusive arrangements for VR modes and content in major titles from big third party publishers, we saw a lot of reasons for adoption from VR enthusiasts without a console and PS4 owners eager to jump into the craze.

With diminished software output across the board, Sony's lack of first party output leveraging the technology or third-party deals to expand the software selection, the immense cost completely flipping it to being one of the most expensive entry points into VR through a closed ecosystem without even backward compatibility to lean on, and fading interest in the mainstream, there was really nothing to work with that would have made the headset attractive for anything more than a very miniscule niche- a group that I imagine has probably sputtered out and thinned past the hardware's launch period where sell-through is concerned.

At the least, they're working to establish PC compatibility, which will open up a small pathway to further buy in... however, as a standalone headset, the PSVR 2 has to compete against an entire market of options in various grades and price points.

It's a hard sell on all fronts.
 
I can't recall hearing much news on PSVR2 after the launch window passed, so it doesn't surprise me we have hit the point where Sony doesn't want to make more units and wants to sell the inventory they have built up.
 
Concurseiro do Futuro said:
Instead of PSVR2 and PS Portal, Sony should have done a new Playstation Portable or a Playstation 5 Series S.
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PlayStation has proven to no longer have the resources to support more than one piece of hardware, and definitely won't in the future with the rising costs of game development. Even the PS5 is going to be hit 1st party wise considering the confirmed 0 major titles from Sony's own teams for the next fiscal year.
 
Stranger said:
They went from effectively the most broadly adopted consumer VR headset for years through the PSVR to this. There were many fantastic factors that came together to make the first iteration attractive and successful, but almost none carried over. Being an accessory to the PS4 and priced tolerably for its space, the combined investment of a console and headset made the PSVR one of the cheapest ways to get into gaming with VR. Alongside support from independent developers, major first party output from internal studios, and console exclusive arrangements for VR modes and content in major titles from big third party publishers, we saw a lot of reasons for adoption from VR enthusiasts without a console and PS4 owners eager to jump into the craze.

With diminished software output across the board, Sony's lack of first party output leveraging the technology or third-party deals to expand the software selection, the immense cost completely flipping it to being one of the most expensive entry points into VR through a closed ecosystem without even backward compatibility to lean on, and fading interest in the mainstream, there was really nothing to work with that would have made the headset attractive for anything more than a very miniscule niche- a group that I imagine has probably sputtered out and thinned past the hardware's launch period where sell-through is concerned.

At the least, they're working to establish PC compatibility, which will open up a small pathway to further buy in... however, as a standalone headset, the PSVR 2 has to compete against an entire market of options in various grades and price points.

It's a hard sell on all fronts.
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A very good post. The cost of entry, even for just the headset, is just too high to make this product appealing.
 
Not very surprising. I bought the first PSVR, loved it for the first hour of use, then bought two dedicated PSVR games for it, neither of which were much fun. I tried some of my PS4 games which were standalone or VR but much preferred them non-VR. Expensive lesson learned and no way was I going anywhere near PSVR2.
 
Based on the (albeit limited) sales data I have access to, I personally believe that PSVR2 is above 1 million units sold-through, as that seems to represent PlayStation's hardcore early adopter base willing to invest in experimental products like this. However, Sony's ability to drive growth (or even match PSVR1's 5 million) is far from a guarantee.

A $550 accessory that also requires a $400-$500 console to play with no independent access (until Sony pivots later this year) is a significant buy-in requirement that discourages all but the most dedicated. The VR market continues to be nascent and Sony has the market data to know that full well. And then on top of that, Sony insufficiently invests in the platform with only a handful of games that actually showcase and justify PSVR2's exclusivity. Instead, they are coasting on the PS5's rampant sales success and expecting accessory demand to follow suit.

Sony's actions have been a misread of the trends within the games industry, which speaks to broader dysfunction within SIE. They really should not have greenlit this project in its current incarnation. Instead, they should have stuck to what they know and devoted those development resources to more first-party PS5 games. No wonder production has paused, they probably have a large stockpile they can't sell-through.

Even VR market leaders like Meta recognize the limited broad appeal of pure VR even at an affordable price point, and have pivoted hard to AI and MR through wearable interfaces like smart glasses as a result.
 
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Lelouch0612 said:
We saw it coming from a mile.

Seems like Meta is the winner of the VR war, even if it might be a phyrric victory.
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Yeah, spending billions to make millions will go down as one of the sillier investment choices by the FAANG crowd.
 
Undead Warrior said:
At least both consumers and third parties put a lot of effort and enthusiasm into the Vita. This? Nobody wanted this.

Sony thought that if they built it, they would come. As if we were still in the late 90s. I'm really baffled how this made it to market with seemingly NO plan for support.
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I feel like the Metaverse is Beanie Babies.

Like people in the 90s would look at the value of old collectibles from the 50s and 70s and be like, "I'm going to be smart and get it on the ground floor of something collectible," and then bought a bunch of mass produced consumer goods thinking in 20-40 years they'd be paying massive dividends.

Now we had all these technology companies looking at how FAANG got in early enough to cement their positions at the top and were like, "Yes, we're going all in early on the next big thing and these Beanie Babies - I mean, this Metaverse real estate - is going to make us all so much richer in 20 years!"

Everyone knows a social media network is officially over when you start seeing more posts from businesses and brands than ordinary people. The Metaverse was DOA because brands got there first and nobody wants to hang out with them.
 
Nothing surprising. And i will keep lol'ing everytime anyone hyped or believe that PS can deliver any other product outside their main consoles.

Their treatment toward all side project has always been abysmal even their PSP.

PSP has big launch and it got great support with Monster Hunter leading to resurgence in Japan. But half of PSP lifespan on worldwide is bad as Sony bail out asap the moment they feel the pain of piracy.(Which is why so many big PSP title remain Jp exclusive)

PSVita story is as simple as possible. 1 year support. Then thrown to the bin with only indie and jp devs carrying the broken console.

PSVR1 and PSVR2. The same old story. Shitty first party support. Hoping that third party will help and gulible audience will buy the platform.

Thats why even if PSP2 or PSV2 is real next gen. I am interested in how many gullible people is going to get sold by empty/broken promise by Sony again on support of those platform.
 
why doesnt sony do a wireless model that streams from ps5?

You could probably get the price way down without a powerful native SOC needed, and you also leverage the literal only advantage Sony has vs the Quest, PS5's power. Quest's already stream wirelessly from PC so, clearly technically feasible.

Total no brainer. And I mean total. I want $100 million for this idea Sony, thanks.
 
salesguy said:
why doesnt sony do a wireless model that streams from ps5?

You could probably get the price way down without a powerful native SOC needed, and you also leverage the literal only advantage Sony has vs the Quest, PS5's power. Quest's already stream wirelessly from PC so, clearly technically feasible.

Total no brainer. And I mean total. I want $100 million for this idea Sony, thanks.
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So Playstation Portal but more expensive and for VR? Considering how well Playstation Portal is selling, I don't think the idea is worth $100 million...
 
saicho said:
So Playstation Portal but more expensive and for VR? Considering how well Playstation Portal is selling, I don't think the idea is worth $100 million...
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also, i forgot they also theoretically dont need a great soc cus they already use ps5 chipset, just through a wire. oh well, i still think console ease of use vs pc advantages would apply and make a wireless psvr leveraging ps5, attractive to the masses..

so why is psvr2 so expensive? i suppose margins vs meta subsidizing theres (dont blame sony on this one). plus very good displays afaik. you could cut the displays back to quest 2 quality in order to lower price for wireless psvr2.
 
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