Sony: More to VR than Games
The PS VR headset ships Oct. 13 in the U.S. at $399, and as part of a $499.99 bundle with the headset, two PlayStation Move controllers, the PlayStation Camera and PS4 VR title “PlayStation Worlds.”
“There are several key benefits that I think PlayStation VR has vs. the competition,” House said. First, thanks to the PS4, PS VR has “unified architecture” that will provide a “very stable quality of experience that developers can rely on,” he said. The hardware pricing is also “very affordable,” he said. After all, the rival Oculus Rift costs $599 for a comparable bundle that also includes accessories and software, while the HTC Vive is even costlier, at $799.
VR applications beyond gaming are part of a “longer-term strategy” for Sony, House said. Live sports and education are a couple of the areas that the company is “starting to focus on,” he said. But Sony “will build this market carefully and cautiously, looking at areas where we can maximize the right business-to-business model,” he added.
The company achieved “solid continued expansion” of the PS4 installed base in the past fiscal year, growing it to more than 40 million units globally, he added. Despite “expectations of decline” in the game console market, Sony has “maintained the fastest penetration in PlayStation history,” he said. At the same time, Sony saw “continued substantial growth” in the company’s network business, with sales growing more than 50% over the previous fiscal year, he said.
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