The release of PlayStation VR could potentially extend the market life of PlayStation 4, according to Jim Ryan, Global Head of Marketing & Sales for PlayStation.
Speaking during an interview with MCV, Ryan said that although PS VR’s launch will be healthy for its flagship gaming system, he wasn’t sure if it could meet the same mainstream heights as the 150-million selling PlayStation 2.
“It could definitely enhance and prolong the lifecycle that we are in the middle of,” said Ryan. “Whether it has the potential to take PS4 to the heights of mass-market acceptance that we saw with PS2, I am not sure about yet.
“It is easy to forget that PS2 was retailing for £99. With PS4 you are going to have to spend £300 on a PS4 and a further £350 on the VR set. We are quite proud of the price point we have been able to achieve relative to other offerings, but there is a gating factor of price and to what extent that allows us to get into the mass market remains to be seen.”
PlayStation VR is scheduled for release in October, priced at $399/£349. Sony hopes to have around 50 games out by the end of the year, and has confirmed that some 230 developers are working on titles for the headset.
PS4 Neo announced, Sony rumored to launch the PS4 Slim alongside new 4K hardware
PS4 was released in November 2013 and has to date shipped over 40 million units worldwide putting it comfortably ahead of the Xbox One in the global console race.
Sony will also release an updated version of the PS4, known as the Neo, which allows gamers to play titles with a substantial increase in visual fidelity. No release date has been given for the device as of yet, although it is rumored to be making an appearance at the Tokyo Game Show.
In addition, reports yesterday filtering out of Japan suggest that the format holder will also launch a slim version of the PS4 alongside the Neo.