It has been reported before on VRFocus that executives at Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) were somewhat taken aback by the success of the PlayStation VR headset, despite much speculation on the reasons for this, part of it may have to do with how SIE marketed the product – or rather, how they didn’t market the product.
In an interview with Kinda Funny Games hosted by GameSpot, President of Sony Worldwide Studios Shuhei Yoshida shed some light on what Sony’s strategy was for the PlayStation VR, revealing that the company had been deliberately taken a less aggressive marketing strategy for the PlayStation VR, due to anxiety about supply and demand.
“We’ve been holding back,” he explained. “Our marketing and sales teams have been holding back promoting the system because we didn’t have enough units. But going forward, because we have enough units moving into the retailers, we will restart promoting the system and games coming up.”
The PlayStation VR reached a sales figured of 1 million in early June, with PlayStation Marketing head Jim Ryan calling the figure ‘A good start’. It was revealed earlier in the year that SIE executives were cautious about the PlayStation VR, despite enthusiasm from the marketing team. There were also problems with supply lines resulting from a shortage of components for the OLED display. A combination of factors that led to shortages of PlayStation VR headsets on store shelves, particularly in Japan.
The shortages meant that the prices for second-hand PlayStation VR headsets took a large jump, sometimes ending up at double the original retail price. In Japan, re-stocks of PlayStation VR headsets resulted in queues forming of consumers eager to get their hands on one.
The interview with Shuhei Yoshida indicated that now that SIE has sufficient units available to supply retailers with, a big marketing push should new be expected, especially considering the new games recently announced at E3.
VRFocus will continue to bring you news on the PlayStation VR and other headsets.