Jim Ryan – Page 3 – Augmented & Virtual Reality Confabulation

November 1, 2017

Sony’s Jim Ryan Confirms its Commitment to VR: ‘we’re in it for the long haul’

Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) has had a flaky history with its accessories for PlayStation, with the company releasing add-ons then seemingly losing interest in providing content. When PlayStation VR released last year this fear was reignited due to the cost of the peripheral. One year later that’s shown not to be the case, with SIE confirming its commitment to VR and the future of the technology.

In an interview with the Telegraph, Jim Ryan, Head of Global Sales and Marketing at SIE was asked about whether there’s enough significant public interest in VR, to which he responded: “Yes I do. I think VR we definitely see as having the potential to be a very significant part of the future of interactive entertainment. Now quite what the horizon is and quite what the rate of pace of adoption is, that’s still a little unclear. But Sony is committed to this and we’re in it for the long haul.”

PlayStation VR Group shot

That positivity towards PlayStation VR and VR in general was certainly seen in this week’s Paris Games Week press conference which featured a bunch of new videogames as well as revealing details on some already known. New videogames included Fast Travel Games’ Apex Construct, Survios’ Sprint Vector, Blood & Truth by Sony London Studio, Megalith and Bow to Blood.

While launch date details were revealed for Moss, Dead Hungry and League of War: VR Arena, and Star Child, Ultrawings, Smash Hit Plunder and Resident Evil VII biohazard DLC Not a Hero also made an appearance.

That commitment doesn’t just include software as SIE has recently begun rolling out a new version of the PlayStation VR, adding a few extra improvements to the design. And it’s not going to stop there with Ryan stating on further iterations: “Sure – Sony’s a hardware company. We’re always looking at iteration – we’ve got nothing to announce right now – but the history of our involvement in gaming has involved iteration and improvement.”

When asked about PlayStation VR’s tracking technology – which is seen as one of the devices main draw backs when compared to Oculus Rift or HTC Vive – Ryan added: “We’re looking at the whole thing constantly. Looking at how people use it, the things that they enjoy about it, the things they’d like to see improved and our engineers are constantly innovating and looking at new stuff.”

As SIE continues its development of PlayStation VR, VRFocus will keep you updated.

October 14, 2016

PlayStation VR Launch Sales to be in “many hundreds of thousands” Says Sony

It’s only been a day since Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) launched the highly anticipated PlayStation VR on the world and so far things seem to be going well. While its too early to say how successful the launch has been one of the company’s heads has indicated sales are high.

In an interview with CNBC SIE’s Global Head of Sales and Marketing, Jim Ryan has commented in an interview that: “We know from the data we have from pre-orders that the interest we have is significant,” before adding that sales should be in: “many hundreds of thousands”.

PlayStationVR_130906_4(EagleFlight)

PlayStation VR is one of the most promising entries into the virtual reality (VR) market due to several factors. It provides a higher quality experience than mobile VR, the PlayStation 4 install base is over 40 million with the current launch of the Slim version dropping the standard console even lower, and the PlayStation VR headset is significantly cheaper than its PC-based rivals, Oculus Rift and HTC Vive.

Even though the Oculus Rift launched at the end of March and HTC Vive a few days later in April, neither company has released concrete sales figures for the headsets, to give an indication on how big the higher-end VR market is and its growth. SIE will likely in time buck this trend and reveal sales figures, if it does it won’t be until next year.

But for success SIE also needs to avoid the trap both of its rivals fell into at launch, not having enough headsets to fulfil pre-orders taken months before hand. Ryan addresses this by saying: “We know that the replenishment cycle is a good one, production is going exactly as we anticipated. We have made decisions to further increase capacity at the back end of 2016 and into 2017, so there are going to be a lot of PlayStation VRs around the world, whether that’s enough to satisfy the demands of the market, we’ll see.”

For all the latest PlayStation VR news, keep reading VRFocus.

October 14, 2016

Sony: PlayStation VR Sales In The “many hundreds of thousands”

We’re going to be playing guessing games when it comes to VR headset sales for a long time yet, but Sony has at least given us a ballpark to play with when it comes to PlayStation VR.

Speaking to CNBC at the headset’s launch yesterday, Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe President and Chief Executive, Jim Ryan, reportedly said that launch sales for the device will be in the “many hundreds of thousands”. Ryan didn’t go into any specifics, but did state that interest in the device was “significant” based on pre-order data. PS VR is currently sold out at many retailers, with Amazon UK not expecting to be caught up with orders until December.

If true that’s encouraging data. We still have no solid statistics on what Rift and Vive are really selling, but their high price tags ($599 and $799 respectively) and need for high-end PCs is undeniably a barrier to entry for many. Sony, meanwhile, already has over 40 million VR ready machines in people’s homes with its PlayStation 4 console, and PS VR costs significantly less than its competitors at $399. That gives the headset a real shot at gaining an early lead in the VR market, even if it’s not as advanced as its rivals.

The real question is if Sony can’t maintain that lead going forward as PC-based VR continues to lower its barrier to entry. Last week Oculus introduced a minimum spec for the Oculus Rift that further reduces the cost of VR ready PCs, with rigs as low as $499 now supporting the headset.

Ryan also noted that production for PS VR is going as anticipated. “We have made decisions to further increase capacity at the back end of 2016 and into 2017, so there are going to be a lot of PlayStation VRs around the world, whether that’s enough to satisfy the demands of the market, we’ll see,” he said. Getting units into hands as fast as possible will be crucial, as it will create more demand for units.

It certainly sets an interesting precedent as we head into the holiday season.