One year into the lifecycle of PS VR2, I view its first year as a success. When it launched, PS VR2 arrived with a solid lineup of games. Sony was able to go out and get Beat Saber from Meta. At the same time, Capcom and Sony partnered on an incredible free VR version of Resident Evil Village. Likewise with Sony’s own Gran Turismo 7. In the months following the launch, Sony added The Walking Dead Saints and Sinners series, Firewall Ultra, and the definitive version of Resident Evil 4. In addition to games like Moss, C-Smash VRS, Among Us, No Man’s Sky, and Horizon Call of the Mountain, with many other titles.
Yet while great games have come to the platform, Sony has yet to paint the picture of a bright VR future for consumers. This has scared off both developers and players creating a loop PS VR2 is stuck in. There has been no real look ahead at any sort of meaningful release coming to the device anytime soon. So consumers are not buying, the buzz on the web is mum, and developers are uninspired. Each one of these problems has been created by the other. PS VR2 does not have new games to look forward to because it does not have engagement and does not have engagement because it does not have games to look forward to.
A Small Audience is a Big Problem
Screenshot taken from a PS5 via PS VR2.
With an install base of somewhere between 500,000 and 1,000,000, units, PS VR2 has a small audience to speak to. So if I were a developer and I wanted to make a game, it would be unlikely for me to sell more than 100,000 copies. If I made $30 per copy of the game, there is no way I would make more than $3 million. With that, any PS VR2 game must have a budget of under $3 million. Or Sony has to pay the developer to take that risk. This is why many of the games are ports from other platforms or are published by PlayStation.
Likewise, with influencers, many successful games are driven by engagement on social media. With thousands of games coming out every year, influencers have to focus on what is going to get engagement for them. With an install base so small, it is often looked over by larger outlets and influencers. Plus, Sony has a bad relationship with smaller outlets and influencers. Nor will Sony work with smaller VR-centric outlets. This situation has put PS VR2 in this box where many people online do not want to waste human bandwidth talking about it.
Sony is Afraid to Talk PS VR2, and it is Making Things Worse
Leading up to the launch of Firewall Ultra, we were denied access to talk to the team. We pitched an interview to cover the new content in the game as well as the transition to VR2. I was not surprised that we were blocked by Sony after the developer First Contact Entertainment relayed that they were interested. Yet what shocked me was finding out there was no coverage at all for the game when it launched. First Contact Entertainment announced its closure just a few short months after the release of Firewall Ultra. Sony had blocked them from promoting their game, it never stood a chance. Firewall Ultra fell victim to the loop. Would they have received the resources to make a better game if it sold more, or had better social media metrics?
Horizon Call of the Mountain on PS VR2.
Sony has PS VR2 in this situation where sales have come to a halt because developers must take risks to make a game for it, and gaming outlets and influencers are uninspired. The only thing that can change this is more sales but, how do you sell more units if you have these problems? Engagement and games are the two most important drivers of hardware sales. How does Sony break this loop where it is underperforming because it is underperforming?
An Unlikely Chance for PS VR2
Sony is going to have to make a decision here soon to entirely abandon it. Or make a massive investment to try and continue the VR push. Saving PS VR2 is entirely possible but Sony is going to have to take a massive hit of somewhere around $500 million to continue funding games over the next two to three years and to cut the price of the headset. I think that is doable… if Sony wants to. Yet, what I do not think they want to do is commit human bandwidth to the platform in a serious way. Something changed in the past few months as they mention it more on Twitter. But that is not going to be enough.
Some of Our PS VR2 Coverage:
TGS 2023: Resident Evil 4 PS Vr2 Impressions
Horizon Call of the Mountain Review
Gran Turismo 7 PS VR2 Impressions
