A huge discount on the PlayStation VR2 this summer has seen sales of the device increase over 2,000% as gamers take advantage.
The price cut came in over the weekend, with some retailers making the first moves. This included Amazon, which carved $200 off the manufacturer’s recommended retail price of $549.99, or more than a third.
Other large stores followed suit, before PlayStation itself got in on the action and applied the same saving through PlayStation Direct to price the unit at an all-time low of $349.99.
The same price cuts also apply in stores and on PlayStation Direct in the United Kingdom, with prices at £349.99 (and even less in some stores), but curiously not for mainland Europe at present where the PlayStation VR2 remains at €599.99.
It’s probably little surprise that it’s resulted in a significant boost in sales as a result. One outlet, The Shortcut, states that it has seen exclusive retailer data that show a 2,350% increase in PlayStation VR2 sales on Sunday, July 28 alone — with sales on that one day exceeding the figures for the entire calendar year to date.
Actual sales figures are hard to come by though. Sony has only once revealed any kind of information on PlayStation VR2’s sales, back in May 2023, to state that in its first six weeks on sale the device had shipped around 600,000 units. That’s better than the original PlayStation VR, but it’s been dogged by industry rumors of slow and disappointing uptake since then.
Naturally the high price — $550 plus a PlayStation 5 console — would be off-putting to a lot of consumers, but then so is the shortage of dedicated VR2 games. It reviewed well, especially when paired with Gran Turismo 7, yet clearly was a hard sell with only 30 titles at launch.
Job cuts at several PlayStation Studios develops that deal with VR titles — including at Firesprite and Guerrilla Games, which worked on the flagship Horizon: Call of the Mountain VR2 game — along with the absence of VR2 support for many of PlayStation’s leading IPs painted a dim picture.
However a PC adapter for VR2 is hitting stores soon too, opening up the entire library of PC VR titles to owners even if some key functions are limited. Along with the huge discount — although we’ve no idea how long the price will last — Sony could breathe some life into the device yet.
See more articles on PlayStation VR.
