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PlayStation VR2 launched at $550 two years ago this month. It was a great virtual reality headset but an intimidating price. Now Sony is dropping it to $400 starting in March amid reports that sales have completely stalled. Can the discount give PS VR2 a second wind or is it just one last attempt to sell off inventory before the pricey PlayStation 5 boondoggle is completely retired?
“For those of you who have been waiting for the opportunity to jump into PlayStation VR2 and experience what this generation’s innovative virtual reality system has to offer, we are happy to share some great news! Starting in March, we’re reducing the recommended retail price (RRP) of PS VR2,” reads a new PlayStation Blog post published on Thursday. Starting next month, the headsets will cost as much as the original PS VR did back in 2016.
Released back in 2023 and bundled with Horizon Call of the Mountain for $600, PS VR2 was praised for its build quality, comfort, and performance. The price, however, effectively told non-enthusiasts to stay away. And unlike Meta’s cheaper Oculus headset, PS VR2 also required a standalone PS5 to work and wasn’t backwards compatible with the original PS VR’s library of games.
There were immediately reports of Sony struggling to meet sales goals for the device, with Sony even halting production early last year due to a build up in stock of unwanted units according to Bloomberg. Despite a small but steady stream of new releases for the headset, as well as adapters to make the headset work with PCs, its fortunes don’t seem to have meaningfully improved. Last summer, the device was briefly on sale for $200 off.
The bigger question is why Sony waited this long to aggressively cut the price in the first place. Maybe it’s only recently that the manufacturing costs came down enough to make that viable. After all, why would Sony want to lose money on headsets for an ecosystem that’s barely growing? At the same time, games sell consoles, and without the clear backing of Sony the PS VR2 library never took off. How can others place big bets on the hardware if the company that made it doesn’t seem willing to do the same?
That doesn’t mean here are no games for PS VR2. Sony notes in today’s blog post that Alien: Rogue Incursion, Skydance’s Behemoth, and Metro Awakening VR all recently arrived on the platform, with Hitman World of Assassination, and others still on the way. For now though, there still doesn’t seem to be a killer app coming down the road anytime soon.
Correction 2/27/2025 2:07 p.m. ET: a prior version of this article misstated the launch prices of PS VR2.
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Kurt Indovina
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