Sony sells 915,000 PlayStation VR headsets during its first four months

Sony Interactive Entertainment Global Chief Executive Andrew House told The New York Times the video game division of Sony has seen success in the world of virtual reality as Sony sells 915,000 PlayStation VR headsets during its first four months since release, as of February 19, 2017.

Sony has been expecting to sell one million PSVR devices in the first six months since its launch on October 13, 2016. However, the safe approach by Mr. House and others at the company seems to have been too conservative as they advised Sony to produce less PSVRs. Still, gamers want more virtual reality with PSVR.

“You literally have people lining up outside stores when they know stock is being replenished,” told Mr. House to NYT, about the Japanese market. More PSVR headsets will be available starting in April.

House said the PSVR won’t be exclusive to North America, Japan and other territories where the PSVR is currently on sale. Sony is planning to start selling PSVRs in Latin America this Fall.

NYT said research firm SuperData Research did estimate that 243,000 Oculus Rift headsets have been sold, as well as 420,000 HTC Vive headsets, as of the end of 2016.

Sony has seen early success thanks in part to Capcom’s Resident Evil 7 Biohazard. House said, according to the post, that “the average amount of time PlayStation VR users spend playing in the headset has doubled.”

Sony will also release the PSVR Aim controller, a device that will let gamers “more easily aim and shoot weapons within virtual reality games.” It will be launched on May 16 alongside the space adventure game Farpoint.

[Source]: New York Times: Popularity of Sony’s PlayStation VR Surprises Even the Company.