When Sony Computer Entertainment President Andrew House announced in a packed room in San Francisco Tuesday that the new PlayStation VR headset system will cost only $399, there was a clamor of shock and then an immediate eruption of applause. High-quality virtual reality gaming sounded like it was finally “affordable.”
2016 has been a watershed year for virtual reality gaming. After years of Google Cardboard and smartphone-based virtual reality gaming, Oculus, Sony and HTC have all thrown their hats in the VR ring with a headset of its own. Oculus Rift and HTC Vive are both coming out this spring at a price that is at least $200 higher than the PlayStation VR. Surely, that price gap must make the PlayStation VR a better deal than its two upcoming competitors?
That price gap may be smaller than thought once read between the lines, according to multiple reports. Sony’s $400 price tag does not include the $60 PlayStation Camera, which is crucial for the virtual reality system to work, and the $50 Move Controller, an ice cream cone-shaped controller which is not quite essential but still prevalent in most PlayStation VR games. Sony says there will be a PlayStation VR bundle with the Camera and the Move but the price has not been announced, according to Tech Insider.
Both Oculus and HTC’s VR bundles include all accessories necessary to start straight from the box—and two games to boot for any pre-orders. For anyone interested in building a PlayStation VR kit from scratch, the tab will come out more than $1,000: $400 on the PS4 console; $400 on PlayStation VR; $100-plus for the Camera and Move; and $100-plus for a couple of games.
Of course, the simple math above overlooks the PC factor within Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. A good gaming PC—like the “Oculus Ready PCs” approved for VR—runs near or well above $1,000. But as a counterargument, a PC is far more versatile and powerful than a PS4 consoles. There is more wiggle room for Oculus or HTC to scale up in its VR technology in the future compared to PlayStation VR.
Lastly, timing plays a factor in this newborn VR headset wars. For good or bad, Sony is taking the patient route with the PlayStation VR. The system will be launching in October, six months after the first batch of HTC Vive pre-orders are shipped. Shawn Layden, president and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment America, tells iDigitalTimes those six months will buy the company and its game developers more time to refine their work.
Working with 230 developers, Sony plans to have 50 VR games available at launch. Oculus Rift, in comparison, will only have 30 launch games. “We’ve determined that October will give us time to meet the hardware quantity demanded,” Layden says.
As a parting jab against Oculus and HTC, Layden also touted Sony’s history of research and manufacturing over several decades as the ace in the hole. Sony this year will be celebrating its 70th birthday; HTC and Oculus, meanwhile, were founded in 1997 and 2012, respectively.
“We brought the transistor radio, the floppy disk and the CD,” Layden says. “Manufacturing expertise is a bastion of Sony’s success.”
