PlayStation VR's announcement of release date and price is the topic of the day, particularly among market analysts.
IHS Technology's Director of Games Piers Harding-Rolls predicts that, even with the October launch, PlayStation VR will dominate the market share with 64% of the installed base in 2016 (that's not counting mobile VR, obviously), translating in 1.6 million units sold. This is consistent with our previous report from SuperData Research, which suggested sales of approximately 1.9 units at a time when PlayStation VR was still pinned for a launch in the first half of the year, though their estimate on market share is drastically different.
That's mainly because Harding-Rolls estimates that PlayStation 4 will have a much bigger addressable market this year than the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive.
With a forecast installed base of 53m PS4s by the end of 2016, Sony has a much bigger addressable market of ‘ready-to-go’ consumers to address than PC-based solutions. In contrast, IHS forecasts that 17m consumers will addressable by Oculus Rift and HTC Vive by the end of 2016.
He also believes that Sony's experience with the PlayStation platform will help them create quality content for PlayStation VR.
Sony has confirmed that over 230 developers are working on the PlayStation VR platform. Sony’s existing in-house expertise and third-party relationships means it is well positioned to build a strong body of content for launch of the platform.
Sony's walled garden approach to the PS4 platform means it is well placed to provide a better controlled and consistent VR experience to consumers. This will be important in driving adoption and positive word of mouth for PlayStation VR.
Finally, he commented on Twitter that the price is "bang on the money" and the October launch date makes perfect sense for Sony.
That pricing is bang on the money #psvr
— Piers Harding-Rolls (@PiersHR) March 15, 2016
October 2016 launch date makes much better sense for the PS4 business #PSVR
— Piers Harding-Rolls (@PiersHR) March 15, 2016
What do you think about Sony's choices when it comes to pricing and release window? Let us know in the comments.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
Follow Wccftech on Google to get more of our news coverage in your feeds.
