ps vr2

Report: Sony Plans to Produce 2 Million PSVR 2 Headsets by March 2023

October 3, 2022 From roadtovr

Sony plans to release PSVR 2 sometime in early 2023, although exactly when is still a mystery. Now a Bloomberg report maintains the company is aiming to produce 2 million units by March 2023, which would signify a sizeable uptick in sales expectations over the original PSVR.

Citing people familiar with the matter, the report maintains the 2 million figure “could be adjusted depending on the device’s sales momentum.” The company allegedly hasn’t faced any supply chain issues after initially heading into mass production in September, however.

Released in October 2016, the original PSVR for PS4 reached that two-million-unit sales mark after about 14 months on store shelves. In late 2019, Sony announced the headset has sold over five million units. By the time PSVR reached that two-million-mark Sony had already sold 70.6 million PS4s however—a large potential install base that PS5 frankly just doesn’t have yet.

According to sales figures obtained by Android Authority, the company has only sold five million PS5 consoles as of August 2022. The Bloomberg report maintains though PSVR 2 sales will begin with “an expected relief of supply chain bottlenecks” that affected the rollout of PlayStation 5, so it’s possible the company is looking to significantly increase production on PS5 to further maximize PSVR 2 sales.

On the standalone side of things: it’s uncertain how many Meta Quest 2 headsets have sold to date, however data obtained from independent analyst IDC maintains it reached around three million in sales in the first quarter since launch in 2020.

IDC further claims Quest 2 has already reached 14.8 million units sold as of June 2022. Standalone headsets present the best-case scenario for headset sales right now since they include onboard processing, giving you everything you need in one box.

Want to learn more about PSVR 2? Check out our detailed hands-on with the headset, and some of the top titles coming to the headset including Resident Evil Village and Horizon Call of the Mountain.

Import Records Reveal Sony Has Shipped Thousands of Dev Kits, Possibly PSVR 2

March 16, 2022 From roadtovr

United States import records from late 2021 onward show that Sony Interactive Entertainment has shipped thousands of boxes containing developer kits from Asia to the US. The exact contents of the boxes hasn’t been specified, however Sony’s next-gen PlayStation VR 2 headset is a very likely candidate.

As first reported by TweakTown, Sony has shipped 2,374 cartons containing “DEVELOPMENT KIT[s] FOR INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT SOFTWARE,” starting back in October 2021.

Here’s the relevant data from TweakTown, sourced from import/export firm Import Genius and confirmed with Seair Exim Solutions:

January 2022 – 434 CTN (cartons), 4730 kg, Japan -> Oakland, CA
December 2021 – 980 CTN, 8712 kg, Japan -> Oakland, CA
November 2021 – 480 CTN, 5218 kg, Japan -> Oakland, CA
October 2021 – 240 CTN, 2612 kg, Korea -> Oakland, CA
October 2021 – 240 CTN, 2612 kg, Japan -> Oakland, CA

Granted, records don’t specify which dev kit is inside the box, however we can make a few educated guesses.

Platform holders like Sony typically distribute dev kits to a handful of select studios months before launch so they can properly target the new hardware. PSVR 2 is rumored to release in early 2023, so the clock is ticking for studios to make the best use of all the new tech packed into Sony’s next-gen headset, including eye-tracking, face haptics and its new Sense controllers.

PlayStation 5 released in November 2020 and continues to lag in production due to the global chip shortage, so it’s unlikely Sony is shipping additional PS5 consoles to developers at this late stage.

Sony also hasn’t announced any other console, like a PlayStation 5 Pro. Given the ongoing supply chain problem with microprocessors, a surprise PS5 Pro launch seems like a non-starter considering PS5 is still in high demand and relatively little supply.

Want to learn everything there is to know about PSVR 2? Check out specs and a breakdown of the tech in PSVR 2.

PSVR 2 Could Include Tech from the Biggest Name in Eye Tracking

February 7, 2022 From roadtovr

Tobii, a global leader in eye-tracking, announced it’s currently in talks with Sony to include its tech in the upcoming PlayStation VR2.

Tobii released a short press statement today confirming that negotiations are ongoing, additionally noting that it’s “not commenting on the financial impact of the deal at this time.”

It was first revealed that Sony would include eye-tracking in PSVR 2 back in May 2021, with the mention that it will provide foveated rendering for the next-gen VR headset. Foveated rendering allows the headset to render scenes in high detail exactly where you’re looking and not in your peripheral. That essentially lets PSVR 2 save precious compute power for more and better things.

Founded in 2001, Tobii has become well known in the industry for its eye-tracking hardware and software stacks. The Sweden-based firm has partnered with VR headset makers over the years and can be found in a number of devices, such as HTC Vive Pro Eye, HP Reverb G2 Omnicept Edition, Pico Neo 2 Eye, Pico Neo 3 Pro Eye, and a number of Qualcomm VRDK reference designs.

It’s still unclear when PSVR 2 is slated to arrive, although it may be positioned to become the first true commercial VR headset to feature eye-tracking—that’s if PSVR 2 isn’t beaten out by Project Cambria, the rumored ‘Quest Pro’ headset from Meta which is also said to include face and eye-tracking.