The other day the Sony PlayStation VR finally had its official price and release date revealed. The headset will be priced at $400, a good $200 cheaper than the Oculus Rift, and half the price of the HTC Vive. From what it sounds like, it seems like Sony has managed to undercut both Oculus and HTC, but at what cost?Some might assume Sony is willing to take a loss just to move more units, but that isn’t the case. Speaking to Eurogamer in an interview during GDC, Sony Worldwide Studios head Shuhei Yoshida said that Sony will actually not be taking a loss with the PlayStation VR, despite the fact that it is priced relatively low compared to the competition.
According to Yoshida, “According to our hardware team we are not going to lose money selling PlayStation VR for the price we announced. That’s great news because we can invest in promotion, doing trials, developer support without bleeding money by selling the PS VR hardware.”
He also adds that it is thanks to the company’s experience in making hardware that has allowed them to keep costs down. “Luckily our hardware teams have been making hardware for a long time. We’ve approached PS VR development how we approach PlayStation console development – we always aim high in the quality of the experience.” In the meantime gamers who are interested in the PlayStation VR will be pleased to learn that it will be available this coming October.
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