Sony has been slowly drip-feeding us information on their next-generation VR offering since they officially announced its existence in early 2021. They have shown us the new Sense controllers and more details and full specifications were revealed during a CES press conference.
And only a week ago, the gaming giant finally revealed the final design for the PS VR2 headset. With the reveal of the headset, many fans, including myself thought that we were mere months away from getting our hands on the PlayStation VR2.
Sadly though, that may not be the case.
Popular PlayStation VR YouTube channel, PS VR Without Parole, who accurately predicted the full p[S VR2 specs months before the official reveal have said in their recent video that PlayStation VR2 may not release until Q1 of 2023.
This is not great news for PlayStation fanatics wanting to don the latest VR kit from Sony and jump into immersive gaming worlds like never before. However, a later launch window is pretty much down to the chip shortage that console and other electronics manufacturers are currently experiencing.
According to the video, the chip shortage means that PS5 consoles are still pretty scarce (which they certainly are) and launching a new PlayStation VR headset while the PS5 user base is still relatively low wouldn’t be great. The PlayStation VR2 needs the PS5 install base to be reasonably high in order to succeed. Not to mention that the chip shortage would likely affect the production of the actual PS VR2 hardware.
Trying to launch PS VR2 in 2022 with the current lack of PS5 consoles, and launching it without being able to guarantee a great number of PS VR2 headsets would be available would only hurt sales in the long run. Although I am a bit disappointed that I will probably have to wait another year to get my hands on the PlayStation VR2, I totally understand if Sony does delay it until early 2023.
Source: PS VR Without Parole
