Sony Playstation’s virtual reality console goes viral and leaves the company in awe
Public Domain Photo Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
Sony’s PlayStation VR is designed to be fully functional with the original PlayStation 4 console, and is able to access several of the games as well. The VR was launched on October 13, but did not begin to sell until the month of February with over 900,000 consoles sold. When retailing began, Sony set a goal to sell over a million PlayStation VR consoles within the next six months, and the rising popularity has had a shocking effect on the company.
February 27, 2017
When Sony initially released the VR Playstation console in late October, the company was extremely cautious of “mass-distributing” to stores, as the concept of virtual reality gaming was not yet widely accepted among the games and entertainment community.
With approximately 915,000 consoles sold in the month of February, just four months after the release date, the company was in awe at the increase in sales. Richard Marks, A Sony research partner, stated, “we were expecting [sales] to be a lot smaller than it has turned out to be.” The popularity of virtual reality has grown in the past year, and many players tend to prefer Playstation consoles, which explains the device’s sudden success.
Through the use of a headset and a pair of hand-held controllers, players are kept immersed into the games with minimal space for distractions; providing a chance for gamers to discover the new world of gaming by triggering players’ reflexes and senses similar to real life interactions. As Sony’s central goal was to sell one million Playstation VR consoles within the first six months, the company has happily been restocking shelves often, getting closer to that one million milestone. Now, Sony’s game and accessories creators are working towards making more content and games available for purchase for the headset.
