After a slow trickle of teases and details, we now know a lot about Sony’s new PlayStation VR2 headset for PS5, including the release lineup, release date, and price. This last part will undoubtedly be the most controversial. Sony revealed on Wednesday that the PS VR 2 will cost $550, even more than the PS5 required to run it. And that $550 price, itself higher than the original $500 PS VR bundle for PS4, doesn’t even include games. As revealed in a PlayStation blog post today, these will cost extra. The Horizon Call of the Mountain bundle bundle, which includes the VR spin-off of Guerrilla Games’ Horizon Zero Dawn series, will cost $600. So what does base price mean? The $550 bundle only includes the PS VR2 headset, PS VR2 Sense controllers, and stereo headset. Even the charging dock comes separately for another $50. If you’re a true VR enthusiast, that means the entire package, including the PS5, will set you back over $1,000. That’s a big ask despite the impressive specs. Horizon Call of the Mountain | Announce the trailer Sony also revealed more about the PS VR2 launch lineup. In addition to the Horizon VR game, there will also be the following 11 ports and editions:
The Dark Pictures: Switchback VR | Manufacturer: Supermassive Games Crossfire: Sierra Squad | Developer: Smilegate The Light Brigade | Manufacturer: Funktronic Labs Cities VR – Enhanced Edition | Manufacturer: Fast Travel Games Cosmonious High | Manufacturer: Owlchemy Labs Hello Neighbor: Search and Rescue | Manufacturer: tinyBuild Games Jurassic World Aftermath Collection | Manufacturer: Coatsink Pistol Whip VR | Manufacturer: Cloudhead Games Zenith: The Last City | Manufacturer: Ramen VR After the fall | Manufacturer: Vertigo Games tentacle | Manufacturer: Firepunchd Games UG
You can read more about how each will make unique use of PS VR2 technology over on the PlayStation blog, but none of them seem particularly likely to convince anyone who isn’t already a VR fan to jump on board. While some are great games, none are the Half-Life: Alyx-style blockbusters that can attract the audience Sony has cultivated over the last generation of consoles with games like God of War and Ghost of Tsushima. We’ll see if Horizon Call of the Mountain can fill that void. The launch series will have big shoes to fill, however, as the PS VR2 isn’t backwards compatible. Sony’s expensive VR push only recently raised the price of the PS5 worldwide, and as the new console is still hard to find on store shelves. It also comes as Meta, formally known as Facebook, has seen its stock price continue to slide as it spends $10 billion acquiring new virtual reality studios, developing new headsets, selling existing ones at a loss and trying to to do her feet. Although Meta also raised the price of the Quest 2 wireless headphones earlier this year, they still remain a more affordable entry point at just $500. Even then, it still only sold north of 15 million units. Better than the Xbox Series X/S, but not necessarily enough to drive mass adoption or get the biggest game studios and publishers to start developing games for it. G/O Media may receive a commission
