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Sony: ‘No Plans For PS VR-Related Deals’ on Black Friday

Sony: ‘No Plans For PS VR-Related Deals’ on Black Friday

With the biggest shopping and sales day of the year quickly approaching, planning what to buy and where to buy it is more important than ever. Especially in the United States, people around the country will start lining up outside the biggest retailers such as Walmart, Target, Best Buy, and more getting ready to make the mad dash towards the biggest and best deals. Many retailers have even already started their sales.

Naturally this year, a lot of people were holding out on purchasing any VR equipment until the sales started. Wait to build your PC during Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals, the wise men always say. We already know you can get $100 off on your HTC Vive this holiday for example. But one item you likely won’t find on sale in most cases is the recently released PlayStation VR headset from Sony.

UploadVR reached out to a Sony Spokesman about their upcoming Black Friday plans and we were provided with a succinct response: “No plans for PS VR-related deals at this point.” The representative did, however, elaborate on what they do have planned. “There will be a Black Friday deal ($249) for the standard PS4 (Uncharted 4 bundle). Some of our retail partners have started to advertise this.” Additionally, when asked if retailers would be permitted to offer their own sales on PS VR hardware or software independently, the Sony Spokesman stated that yes, “retailers are free to offer their own promotions.”

The news is a bit surprising, given the importance of the season for the game industry, but this does not preclude Sony from offering a sale closer to the actual Holiday dates next month, nor does it mean game deals won’t be a commonality on store shelves and sale papers over the next few weeks. GameStop even recently ordered more PS VR stock in preparation for the upcoming surge in demand.

Even if you were waiting for a hopeful Black Friday deal, now is still a great time to hop on board the PS VR train.

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VR Sales Analysis: Rift and Vive to Sell Under 500,000 in 2016, PS VR to Top 2 Million

VR Sales Analysis: Rift and Vive to Sell Under 500,000 in 2016, PS VR to Top 2 Million

The age of high-end, commercially available virtual reality began on March 28 with the launch of the Oculus Rift.

Since then the HTC Vive, PlayStation VR and Google Daydream View have all entered the arena. The reviews are in, and the software is already being devoured by the ravenous fans of each respective platform. What has not been clear, however, is how each of the combatants is fairing in the battle. However, a new industry report is shining some light on the mysterious state of this increasingly heated competition.

SuperData Research is a New York based research firm that has been creating detailed reports on the immersive industry for months. Its most recent study centers around likely sales figures for the major VR headsets. The organization found that, by the end of 2016, the Oculus Rift is projected to sell 355,088 units; the HTC Vive will sell 420,108 units; Google Daydream will sell 450,083 units; and the PS VR will sell 2,602,307 units. In addition, the analysis also purports that the Samsung Gear VR — built in collaboration with Oculus — will sell 2,316,632 units. 

UploadVR reached out to SuperData to determine the firm’s process for arriving at these figures:

“SuperData’s approach to the market for consumer-centered virtual reality includes retail checks, executive interviews with decision-makers from all of relevant firms in the marketplace, pricing data, our survey-based consumer tracking panel, and digital content purchases collected from our data providers. We combine both proprietary and public data sources to arrive at an objective reading of the market, including financial information obtained through our client network. Analysts are expressly forbidden to buy, sell, hedge or otherwise deal in the securities of any of the following public companies whose primary revenues come from the creation, selling, or distribution of video games.”

The major VR manufacturers have been understandably quiet on their sales figures at this early market stage. In lieu of any official statement from those in the know at Oculus, HTC, Samsung, Google, Sony or Valve, SuperData’s comprehensive approach serves as our most reliable glimpse yet into the state of these fledgeling product lines.

The firm’s findings do support general industry theorizing and pre-release predictions. The PlayStation VR was predicted to emerge as 2016’s overall sales victor before it even launched. With over 40 million PlayStation 4s in the market, a lower price point and a massive foot in Asia’s door the stage seemed set for the veteran electronics company to trump its competition.

Similarly, the Rift may seem lagging but it is the first official product to be released solely from the Facebook owned Oculus. With a shaky initial launch, the fact that it requires a pricey personal computer to run and little to no market penetration in Asia, it would be more surprising perhaps to see the freshman company cross the 500,000 sales marker this early in its career.

It should also be noted when considering this data in general that electronics sales, particularly new product-types, typically experience dramatic year over year growth. The Apple iPhone, for example, sold only 1.39 million units when it released in 2007 before skyrocketing to 11.63 million in 2008 and over 100 million in 2012.

Official sales data from the major VR companies will be reported here at UploadVR as that information becomes available.

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‘Batman’, ‘Job Simulator’ Are PlayStation Store’s Bestselling PS VR Games

‘Batman’, ‘Job Simulator’ Are PlayStation Store’s Bestselling PS VR Games

Sony probably isn’t going to reveal sales for its PlayStation VR headset for a while yet, but it did today reveal which games are selling the best on the PlayStation Store.

The platform holder usually puts out a list of the top 10 and 20 selling games across a number of different categories in both the US and EU each month. The lists for October hit today, and they’re the first to include a section for PS VR. Note that this will have been measured over a shorter period than a month; PS VR arrived on October 13th.

These lists don’t reveal specific sales numbers, and they don’t include retail sales, just those made through its digital storefront. It’s also important to remember that some games aren’t available at retail, which may boost the number of people that bought them digitally.

In the US, Owlchemy Labs’ port of its popular HTC Vive game, Job Simulator, was the bestselling app. That’s interesting to note as Job Simulator requires two PlayStation Move controllers, which only came in a bundle with PS VR or had to be bought separately (unless you already owned them). The same goes for Batman: Arkham VR, another digital-only game that took 2nd in the US and 1st in the EU. That suggests that a lot of PS VR owners have two Move controllers.

There are some solid performances from some games in both lists, too. PlayStation VR Worlds from SIE London, Here They Lie from Tangentlemen and Until Dawn: Rush of Blood from Supermassive Games are all in the top 5, while EVE: Valkyrie and Gunjack both made it into the top 10.

The EU list provides a full top 20, which includes a few games that weren’t there on day-one like Tethered and Carnival Games VR.

The full lists for the US and EU are below.

US

  1. Job Simulator
  2. Batman: Arkham VR
  3. Until Dawn: Rush of Blood
  4. PlayStation VR Worlds
  5. Here They Lie
  6. Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes
  7. EVE: Valkyrie
  8. Gunjack
  9. Harmonix Music VR
  10. Sports Bar VR

EU

  1. Batman: Arkham VR
  2. PlayStation VR Worlds
  3. Until Dawn: Rush of Blood
  4. Here They Lie
  5. Tumble VR
  6. Job Simulator
  7. Gunjack
  8. Driveclub VR
  9. EVE: Valkyrie
  10. Sports Bar VR
  11. Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes
  12. The Assembly
  13. Wayward Sky
  14. Headmaster
  15. Tethered
  16. RIGS Mechanized Combat League
  17. Pixel Gear
  18. Harmonix Music VR
  19. Battlezone
  20. Carnival Games VR

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