The president of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios (SCE WWS) has shed light on the decision to reveal PlayStation VR’s price point without including the additional cost required for the PS Camera.
Sony announced the price for its virtual reality device at GDC 2016 last week, and while the initial $399 cost pleased many PS4 owners, it later emerged that the headset would require the use of the PS Camera—adding an extra $59.99 to the existing price.
However, speaking on the latest episode of PS I Love You XOXO, Shuhei Yoshida said that the format holder wanted to position the cost for those who already own the PS Camera.
“Yeah, ‘PSVR is not $400 it’s $460!’ Yeah. I saw these comments. [Laughter] Pretty early in the process, we decided to not bundle the camera because we know that many people already own the camera. Especially people who purchased the PS4 in the first year. So those people, if we bundle, as a standard, a camera — another one — you know they would be mad. You know because they can’t do anything with it because the PS4 can only accept one camera. Maybe sell it on eBay or whatever.
“And the same thing with Move. The camera is required, but we know many people already own it. So we don’t put it in the basic product. This week’s announcement [GDC announcement] for us is to announce the base unit. That’s consistent globally and for people we know…who already own cameras. We don’t want them to spend more money than necessary.”
PS VR is due to ship in October 2016 with around 50 games appearing for the headset by the end of the year. Sony has revealed that over 200 developers are currently beavering away on various projects for the device, including DICE, who is working on an exclusive Star Wars Battlefront VR experience.
Sony has already confirmed a number of high-profile titles that will utilise PS VR, such as Ace Combat 7, Dreams, Gran Turismo Sport and Tekken 7. The device was originally announced at GDC two years ago under the working title of Project Morpheus.