PSVR 2 price cut? Sony should trim price to avoid ‘disastrous’ launch

Sony should consider slashing the price of the PlayStation VR 2 headset to avoid a “complete disaster” according to an analyst’s report.

According to the IDC research firm, Sony has only sold 270,000 PSVR 2 headsets in the first month on sale. In an opinion piece on Trusted Reviews today, our own Ryan Jones explains why this is no surprise.

Now the IDC’s VP of data and analysts reckons Sony should bite the bullet and chop the hefty £529.99 price of the headset or risk the product being a total flop among consumers.

“I suspect a price cut on the PSVR 2 will be needed to avoid a complete disaster of their new product,” says Francisco Geronimo in comments to Bloomberg.

“Consumers around the world are facing rising costs of living, rising interest rates and increasing layoffs. VR headsets are not top of mind for most consumers under the current economic climate.”

The Bloomberg report says Sony had initially hoped to sell two million of the next-generation VR headsets during the first three months on sale. The projected figure of under 300,000 suggests that’s unlikely to be on the cards. Indeed, given the pre-order and release bump is out of the way, it would be surprising if Sony sold a million in the first on-sale quarter.

Sony’s revised expectation are reflective of the sales, Bloomberg says, with the company now projecting a million overall in the first three months.

That may change if Sony were to enact a price cut for the advanced virtual reality headset. But that prospect doesn’t seem likely in the near future. Sony raised rather than cut the price of the PS5 console as soon as it became widely available, and we’d be shocked if Sony went in the opposite direction for the PSVR 2 – at least within the first year.

If Sony were to act sooner, those who pre-ordered the headset or purchased it in within the launch window would be well within their rights to ask for the difference to be refunded.