PlayStation - VR
The Japanese group is on for a big hit to the giants as HTC, Facebook and Google as it releases
of the $399 virtual reality headset, in time for the Christmas sales peak. The gaming market is
buzzing with the virtual reality game set, and according to analysts the market will grow
drastically to almost $40bn by 2020.
At a launch event in Tokyo, Sony’s Japan and Asia president for computer entertainment Atsushi Morita said, “In terms of visual experience at home, we believe this is the biggest
innovation since the emergence of television”. He added, “It’s like a time machine that allows
you to go to any place and become anything that you want to be.”
The device cost starts from $200 less than PC-based headsets such as Facebook’s Oculus Rift
and HTC’s Vive. The launch opened with early morning long queues at electronics shops all
across Japan. However, the consumers were quite disappointed as they found out that there were
quite few remained on the shelves except the ones that were already booked via pre-orders.
The fanatics of PlayStation such as Maosataka Fujiyama, a 43-year-old employee at a Japanese
building materials group, said that he was taking a week off of work to try out the PlayStation
VR after having already experimented with Rift and Vive.
“When I first tried out virtual reality and felt the immersive experience, I knew this was going to
be the next big thing in games,” Mr Fujiyama said as he waited in a queue at Bic Camera, the big
Tokyo electronics chain, to receive his pre-ordered VR headset.
In addition to its unique pricing strategy, analysts are of the opinion that Sony has an advantage
over the rivals to tap into a huge market of more than 40m players using its PlayStation 4
console. The PlayStation VR, which works with PS4, is designed for ordinary consumers rather
than tech-savvy users.
Virtual reality currently is the most lucrative opportunity for the Japanese group for not only
increasing its revenue but also to revive and expand the consumer electronics brand that was
apparently losing its innovative edge (competitive edge) as Sony pulled backed from PCs and
mobile phones.
The gaming division happens to be the biggest contributor to Sony’s revenue other than its
financial business, and its strong performance has become even more crucial as Sony’s other
mainstay image sensor business suffers from a slowdown in smartphone sales.
Sony has not given a sales target for the PlayStation VR nor disclosed how many pre-orders it
received. It prepared about 30 game titles for the launch and that number is expected to grow to
about 50 titles by year-end.
http://www.researchomatic.com/Sony-Playstation-101846.html