When PlayStation VR launches in October, you might have a difficult time finding a unit to buy. PlayStation executive Andrew House told CNBC that he is quite sure there will be supply constraints, due in part to VR being such a new category that modeling sales is not so easy.
“We have growing confidence that we’ll be supply constrained with this product, but we’ll do our very best to meet demand,” House said. “Virtual reality is a medium that’s in its infancy. With such a nascent, very new form of storytelling, it’s difficult to predict what user uptake is going to be.”
Also in the interview, House said he expects PlayStation VR games to be priced in the range of $20-$40, though some games will come in below and above that.
During Sony’s E3 2016 briefing on Monday, the company announced that PlayStation VR will launch on October 13. As detailed previously, the device, which requires PlayStation 4 and a PlayStation Camera, starts at $400 for the headset alone. You can also buy a bundle that comes with the headset, two PlayStation Move controllers, a PlayStation Camera, and the PlayStation Worlds game for $500.
In other news about PlayStation VR, Sony this week announced some new games for it, including a Batman title and a VR version of Final Fantasy XV.
Sony is also working on a more powerful PlayStation 4. In the CNBC interview, House suggested that the days of waiting seven years for a new PlayStation or Xbox device may be over.
“People invest in a console and they want to have that investment validated over a decent period of time,” he said. “That being said, with iterations like Neo we are, to some degree as an industry, acknowledging the pace of iteration has shifted. … People have become attuned to a slightly different cadence of innovation. The critical thing is to give the consumer options, rather than dictate the future for them.”
For its part, Microsoft this week announced that its new Xbox Scorpio system, which is more powerful than the Xbox One and VR-ready, will come out at the end of next year.