PlayStation VR will be priced "not to make money from it " - Shuhei Yoshida

[+Asmodai MVC]

1 hour ago, HawkMan said:

do you honestly think that the software sales that would be considered attached to PSVR is big enough to make up for a 100-200 dollar loss ? considering how little sony makes on each licensed title. 

I honestly don't think selling the headset only at $299 would be a $100-$200 loss in the first place.  Again the specs are similar to the Oculus DK2 which was $350 and included the camera, it almost certainly wasn't sold at a loss.  Even if the camera was $20 that's a profit at $330 for the headset.  Selling the headset at $299 may be like a $50 loss or so for Sony per unit.  I REALLY don't think the headset alone costs $500 for the PS VR (which would be the $200 loss).  Furthermore the headset requires the PlayStation Camera, I'm pretty sure the PlayStation Camera is sold at a large profit as peripheral typically are.  It has a MSRP of $60 I believe but I wouldn't be shocked to find it costs them like $30 to make, so that puts a little dent in the headset loss.  Likewise the Move wands are likely sold at a large profit so anyone who buys them would further offset the headset loss.  I'm not sure what the console cut is but with mobile (Apple, Android, etc.) and Steam they get a 30% cut of what's sold so I wouldn't be shocked to find VR is similar.  With a 30% cut of all VR software sold on the PS4 and the profit from the camera and Move wands do I honestly think they could sell enough to offset a $50 per unit loss... absolutely.  Even if they don't however I think the profit they're making from PS4 sales will more than absorb the loss of the headsets.

 

1 hour ago, HawkMan said:

 

also the ODK2 was sold as a developer system. low volume and it was actually sold at a loss, which the final hardware shows. 

Developer System, Low Volume, these are things that make something MORE expensive not less.  If the MORE expensive low volume developer system could sell for $350 then a similar high volume system would indeed cost less.  Prices go DOWN as volume goes up not the other way around.  I don't buy the DK2 was sold at a loss, the final hardware certainly doesn't show that.  The final hardware is a bunch of custom components which Palmer Luckey himself has stated was a reason for the unexpectedly high price.  The DK2 used mass produced (i.e. high volume, less expensive) components.  For example the DK2's screen was the same one from the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 while the final version is a custom design specifically for the Rift (low volume, high price).

 

1 hour ago, HawkMan said:

and as I said before, just because their gaming division is currently doing very well for it, doesn't give them the opportunity to throw money away on this in order to hope kickstart a gaming revolution, when it's a device that is targeted at and will always live in a niche, it might be a "big" niche, but it'll always be a subset of hardcore gamers who go for it

I'm not sure what your point is here.  By it's very nature it's going to be a subset of PS4 owners that have VR.  Not everyone who gets a PS4 is going to buy a VR Headset, no every "hardcore gamer" even buys a PS4.  Heck some would argue that if you're a "hardcore gamer" you play on PC and not console in the first place.  It doesn't have to sell 10 million units in year one to be a success.  No VR game is going to beat CoD or Grand Theft Auto or whatever at the top of the sales chart and again it doesn't need to in order to be a success.  It's opening up a whole new form of gaming and I really don't think it's going to be a fad.  I'm pretty sure the PS5 will launch with a PS VR 2.0 coming out right along side it.  I wouldn't be surprised if the Xbox Two launches with VR option as well and there are already rumors to indicate MS is working on that.  I doubt HTC is going to be the only company to make headsets that support Steam VR.  Oculus has already said they plan to release a Rift 2.0 in 2-3 years.  VR isn't going away and Sony wants to have a piece of the pie.

 

1 hour ago, HawkMan said:

and I don't think FPS games and such will be long for it so all those will fall of, they'd probably fall of pretty quick as they played them anyway, as it makes little sense for FPS games, it's a device for sim gamers. 

I completely agree with your comments on FPS but I don't see how it's relevant to the discussion.  Just because the FPS genre (as it exists today anyway) isn't a good fit for VR does't in any way prove that VR isn't going to succeed.  VR is an entirely different beast and completely new genres of games that don't exist at all today will come into existence because of it.  Sim games do work well, as do horror games, but people more creative that I are going to come up with entirely new ways to use VR that you just can't do without VR and so don't exist at all today... I have no doubt about that.

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

Gamestop hinting at fall release - http://vrfocus.com/archives/29644/gamestop-ceo-on-psvr-we-will-bring-the-sony-product-this-fall/

 

Considering they first aimed for earlier in 2016, if this is true, may well be to cook it for longer to release at lower prices.

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

It makes sense to release in Q3 or 4, purely for the holiday buying season.

[+Asmodai MVC]

Well the HTC Vive was officially announced at MWC.  The consumer edition is priced at $799 for a package that includes the headset, two towers used for positioning (Vive uses these instead of a camera), and two wand/controllers.  It also comes with two games (Job Simulator and Fantastic Contraption).  Preorders begin Feb. 29th and it ships early April.

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

Pretty worried the price is going to be $449~499. Has to be $399 or less (preferably <= $349) regardless of competition prices.

[+Asmodai MVC]

2 hours ago, Audioboxer said:

Pretty worried the price is going to be $449~499. Has to be $399 or less (preferably <= $349) regardless of competition prices.

I'm concerned as well.  I was really excited about VR at the start of the year, heck since the Oculus kickstarter.  I came very close to backing that and I have friends who did so I've played with the dev kits and really believe in the the future of VR in general.  These prices are all about $200 more than I was expecting though and that's not a small amount.  There was a ton of hype before the Rift price announcement of how this was going to be the year VR hit mainstream but I see that as very unlikely at this point.  This may be the year a lot of VR products are launched but unless Sony launches the PlayStation VR at a surprisingly low price compared to it's competitors there is no "mainstream" about any of it.  Also if the PS VR is pushed off until second half of the year instead of first it's more likely to be a Black Friday or Christmas gift than anything else if it's $300+ (if it sells at all).  That would really mean NEXT YEAR not this year would be the big make or break for VR.

 

Also if the first gen headsets don't sell in reasonably high numbers I'm not sure developers will stick around.  Developers aren't going to spend a bunch of effort making games for hardware very few people have and people aren't going to buy expensive hardware that has very little compelling software to play.  I still believe VR has a strong future but it's looking more and more like it's more like 2-4 years off instead of this year or next.  Heck I did a quick poll of my friends who DID fund the Oculus Rift, some even paid twice already to get the DK2 as well... every single one of them said they would NOT pay $600 for the CV1 if they weren't getting it for free for backing the kickstarter.  This is from guys who believed strongly enough in VR to make the leap of faith in the kickstarter before the Facebook money and hype machine ramped up.

 

Right now the most "mainstream" VR looks to be the mobile phone variety over console or PC.  If PlayStation VR come in at over $400 I'd be willing to bet that Samsung will sell more Gear VRs than Oculus, HTC, or Sony sell PC/Console headsets this year.