PlayStation VR Needs Improvement Says Sony CEO

PlayStation VR needs improvement, according to Kaz Hirai.  The Sony CEO recently spoke in an interview about the popular virtual reality headset, it’s issues, and the company’s plans for the device in the future.

The PSVR has certainly arrived to the mass market at a palatable pricetag, but Kaz believes that Sony can address issues and shortcomings of the “where it makes sense,” variety according to an interview with Daily Star.

We’ll likely see improvements to the PSVR without a huge price increase

Noting that “PlayStation is a business that is known to iterate and evolve hardware products,” Kaz’s words sound like Sony has plans to improve on the hardware going forward.  The problem with the PSVR when compared to its competitors is that Sony is taking into consideration the cost of the device when choosing what components to use.  This will almost always leave them at a disadvantage to devices like Oculus and HTC Vive unless Sony is willing to take a bath financially on the VR movement with hopes of making it back on the software end.

When asked if future versions of the device would be more expensive, Hirai says “That’s not going to happen.”  He did not say when we should expect to see these hardware revisions.

After all, Sony has had trouble keeping the PSVR headset on store shelves as it is.  Since the October launch, the PSVR has been incredibly hard to find.  Third parties have been marking the headset and bundles up significantly, some retailers can be found asking as much as $1700 for a launch bundle.

Sony has yet to release details about sales figures for PSVR, but it’s likely just about every single one they’ve manufactured at this point.  Earlier this week, Sony revealed that they had a sales boom during the holidays.  Their flagship PlayStation 4 is closing in on 54 million consoles sold worldwide, while software sales during the season almost equaled a game per console sold.

Furthermore, perhaps their biggest internal exclusive for the console, Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, has sold close to 9m copies.