A year after launch, PlayStation has reportedly paused PS VR2 production due to slow sales

Sony has reportedly paused production of PlayStation VR2, just one year after launch, so it can deal with a backlog of unsold units.

A new report by Bloomberg claims that PlayStation VR2 shipments have been getting progressively smaller every quarter since the headset launched in February 2023, and that Sony has now paused production altogether.

The report cites research firm IDC, which tracks deliveries to retailers rather than consumer sales, and which says Sony has a surplus of assembled PS VR2 headsets throughout its supply chain.

PlayStation VR2 was released in February 2023 at a price of $549.99 / £529.99, but Sony has still yet to officially confirm how many units it has sold to date.

Previous estimates by IDC suggested sales had started slowly, suggesting around 270,000 units sold by the end of March 2023, but Sony later claimed that PlayStation VR2 sold around 600,000 units during its first six weeks of availability.

In Bloomberg’s report, IDC estimates that sales declined to 435k in 2023 Q2, then 343.6k in Q3, and 325.2k in Q4.

Sony’s first-party games support for PlayStation VR2 has been slim. When the headset launched, Sony released Horizon: Call of the Mountain and a VR update for Gran Turismo 7.

In the year since then, the only other game Sony Interactive Entertainment has published for the headset has been Firewall Ultra, an online team-based shooter which was released in August and received a Metacritic score of 61.

Earlier this year the CCO of Rec Room, the popular VR social platform, said there were no plans to bring it to PlayStation VR2 because the studio couldn’t justify the cost.

“In an ideal world we would love to bring Rec Room to PS VR2, but we just can’t justify the cost based on the numbers,” Cameron Brown said in January. “Sucks I know, but that’s the truth.”

Last month Sony confirmed that it’s testing PlayStation VR2 compatibility with PC. The company aims to enable players to connect their PS VR2 headsets to PCs later this year in order to access more games.