Sony: PS VR Could Prolong PS4's Lifecycle; Not Sure If It Could Take PS4 to PS2 Levels of Mass Market

While new console iterations will merely be launched next year (Nintendo's NX, Sony'south PlayStation four Neo and Microsoft's Xbox Scorpio), nosotros do still have a console hardware launch in 2022: PlayStation VR.

The VR device designed by Sony to be coupled with the PlayStation 4 will launch on Oct 13. There are many questions on how this new peripheral will affect the current success of the PlayStation 4; in an interview with PlayStation's Global Caput of Sales and Marketing Jim Ryan, MCVUK asked if VR could help PlayStation 4 in its quest to win over the mass audience much like DVD helped PlayStation 2 dorsum in the twenty-four hours. Here's how Ryan replied:

It could definitely enhance and prolong the lifecycle that we are in the heart of. Whether it has the potential to have PS4 to the heights of mass-market place credence that we saw with PS2, I am non sure about still. Information technology is easy to forget that PS2 was retailing for £99. With PS4 yous are going to accept to spend £300 on a PS4 and a further £350 on the VR set. We are quite proud of the price point we have been able to accomplish relative to other offerings, but at that place is a gating factor of toll and to what extent that allows us to get into the mass market remains to exist seen.

That seems to be a fair assessment. What MCVUK forgot when suggesting the comparing is that the DVD was built-in with the PlayStation 2 while PlayStation VR will have to be bought separately, aslope the PlayStation Camera for those who don't take that i. That is most certainly non the fashion to penetrate the mass audition to the aforementioned degree that the PS2 was able to.

Yet, it's about a certainty that the lifecycle will be prolonged: between PSVR and the PS4 Neo, nosotros may non go a proper PlayStation 5 for many years nevertheless.