Sony revealed official sales figures for the PlayStation 4-powered VR headset, PSVR.
Through Feb. 19 the company sold 915,000 headsets, Sony revealed in an interview with the New York Times. The figure joins the previously revealed number of 5 million Samsung Gear VR headsets sold so far as the only solid data we have about the size of the VR market.
With Gear VR priced around $100 and PSVR around $400, both figures are significant measures that provide our first real window into the emerging market for VR headsets. Neither Oculus nor HTC have revealed official sales figures for their PC-based headsets.
PSVR hit this milestone in less than six months; Sony’s headset launched in October 2016 at $399. At this price, the device presents a more affordable entry point into high-end VR than the Rift and Vive, which cost $599 and $799 respectively and need expensive high-end PCs to be run. PSVR, meanwhile, runs with any PS4, which start at $249, and the newer, enhanced console, PS4 Pro.
According to the site, Sony had set an internal target of one million in sales by mid-April, and the company certainly seems to be on course to succeed. He also reaffirmed that supply for the headset will improve in the coming months, and a launch in Latin America will take place in fall.
In terms of future goals, House said he would be “very happy” if the device sold a high single-digit percentage of the entire PS4 userbase. Last we heard, the console had shifted 53 million units, so that percentage is currently around 2 percent. There’s a long way to go yet.
Looking forward, Sony is planning to bolster PSVR’s software line-up in 2017, having already partnered with Capcom to include support in January’s Resident Evil 7 [Review: 9/10] and preparing to release games like Starblood Arena and Farpoint. The latter is a first-person shooter that will also see the arrival of a new gun-shaped controller designed to be used with the headset.
Correction: Due to an editing error, the incorrect percentage was included for the PlayStation 4 install base. It is now correct.
