While many gamers on Playstation have their sights firmly set on God of War Ragnarok's imminent release, those who enjoy a bit of VR gaming got an interesting bit of news to think about yesterday.
In a blog post on its website, Sony announced that the second iteration of its VR headset, called the PSVR2, is set to release on February 22, 2023 alongside a sense controller designed to work with it.
However, it’s the price attached to this kit that’s got many people talking, with some arguing that paying more for it than a PS5 isn’t feasible in the current economic climate.
Are you planning to buy the PSVR2 on day one?
The price in question is £529.99 ($549.99) which, as pointed out by VGC, is more expensive than the PS5’s current price point of £479.99 ($499.99), though it does include the headset, sense controllers and some stereo headphones.
This number seems to have put off a lot of players who might potentially have been open to giving the tech a try at launch if it cost less, with a Resetera thread reacting to the announcement being dominated by users like Grunty, who said: “Higher than the darn console. Oof. I want it, but I don’t know… (I) may need to hold off on this one for a while.”
Similarly, user CornIsGood mused: “(The) price would be fine if it didn’t require a PS5. I appreciate how much they’re pushing the tech but maybe they should have held back a bit to keep the cost down some.”, while ghostcrew said: “A bit too rich for me without a solid lineup of massive killer apps.”
On the other hand, the thread also featured plenty of potential players declaring their intention to invest in the tech, with a number asserting that they’ll be getting the headset on day one.
For a select few, their desire to pony up the moolah remains tied to whether they’ll be able to play Half-Life: Alyx on the device, with user ChaosXVI arguing: “This thing better have Half-Life Alyx on it (on) day one for that kind of money.”
Meanwhile, games journalist Jordan Middler took to Twitter to offer an analysis of the price which might explain the polarised response to it, saying: “It's high, but it's actually less than I expected given the tech and the general increase in price of all consumer tech. I bet it's an amazing bit of tech that barely anyone touches.”
Regardless of whether you plan to touch the PSVR2 at launch, make sure to follow us for reviews of VR games and guides to the latest Playstation tech.
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