I'm excited about the PSVR 2 – I've owned both iterations of the original PSVR, although lately my kids prefer our Oculus Quest rather than the original headset that's still hooked up to our PS5.
The PSVR 2 promises to solve almost everything I'd like to change about the original headset, from the screen resolution to the hand tracking. So I'm not surprised that Sony plans to sell huge numbers of its next-gen VR headset very quickly – but I'm a bit concerned that we might not be able to get it this year.
According to supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who's usually very well informed, Sony plans to make 1.5 million PlayStation VR 2 headsets for the second half of 2022. That's a lot: the first PSVR didn't do that in even one year, and there were more PS4s then than there are PS5s in circulation now.
But virtual reality is a lot more mature now, and there's a lot more content too. Unfortunately some of it might not be ready in time for a 2022 launch. So will we have to wait longer?
Why we might not see PSVR 2 until 2023
According to Ming-Chi Kuo, the launch date is dependent on the development schedules of game titles: with Sony planning to have more than 20 big-ticket VR games for day one release, any delays to those key titles could mean Sony puts the launch back to early 2023 instead of the pre-Christmas 2022 launch we'd initially been expecting. It seems that Sony's PSVR 2 strategy is go big or go home.
I think Sony's caution makes sense, as much as I'd like to get my hands on PSVR 2 sooner rather than later. This is a very different marketplace to the one we had back in 2016 when PSVR launched, and while we don't expect Apple's much-rumoured Apple AR/VR headset to ship before PSVR 2 does the competition for the best VR headset crown is much stronger now. The last thing Sony wants is a disappointing launch when it's up against such credible competition.
I'm still crossing my fingers for a late-2022 launch, but if we've learned anything from our many months of frantically checking PS5 restock trackers it's perhaps wise to curb our enthusiasm just a little bit to avoid disappointment. Here's hoping for a flurry of top titles to accompany to launch too, even if that is later rather than sooner...
