Sony anticipates PlayStation VR2 to have ‘much greater popularity’ than the original, Bloomberg reports.
Bloomberg also cites sources “familiar with the matter” as saying Sony plans to have 2 million units produced by March. PSVR 2 is slated to launch “early 2023”, so these millions of headsets should be available for the first adopters. The sources claim production began in September and hasn’t yet faced supply chain constraints.
The sources further claim the headset’s release “will coincide with expected relief of the supply chain bottlenecks that have hampered availability of the PlayStation 5 console”. This would be crucial for the success of PSVR 2, as otherwise prospective buyers could be stuck unable to buy the console the headset requires.
The original PlayStation VR, released in October 2016, took just under 14 months to sell 2 million units. Sony producing this many units for PSVR 2’s launch window alone suggests significantly larger ambitions.
While the original headset required an array of cables connected to a breakout box and a PlayStation Camera, PSVR 2 connects via a single USB-C cable and has onboard cameras for inside-out tracking. It features significantly higher resolution high dynamic range displays, wider field of view lenses, eye tracking, head vibration, and ergonomic controllers with thumbsticks & high fidelity haptics. The price hasn’t yet been announced.
PSVR 2 isn’t compatible with original PSVR games, but many developers are expected to port their titles and Sony told investors the headset will launch with “20+ major first-party and third-party titles” including Horizon Call Of The Mountain and Resident Evil Village.
We recently went hands-on with PSVR2: read our first impressions here.
