Did Sony Doom the PSVR?

[Nautilus]

RolStoppable said:

Nautilus said:
As I said months ago, VR wont catch on fire now, and it wont for years, not until the tech is more affordable, better, and games are made for it, not being made as a second thought.And Sony knows this.Sony knows that VR is a hard sell, simply because it is hard to describe with words or trailers the sensation of playing a game in VR.So decided to do the best marketing he could for this tech.Release it on the wild, and make early adopters do the job for them.With the passing of the years, those early adopters will say how good a game in VR is, why people should join in and so on.And years down the line, when the tech is trully ready for mass market, it will be much easier for Sony to sell the item.

I personally think Sony is playing the long game here.

What Sony is doing with VR is reminiscent of what they did with Vita. It doesn't feel like they are really behind it, but rather released it because it felt like a good idea at some point and then hoped that someone other than them would carry the thing. You can't build any long term momentum without providing games that truly matter, rather Sony is steering on the opposite path where VR will be hurt in the long run. Early adopters won't have kind words for VR when there won't be anything special done with it. And next generation VR (if there is one) will have to prove that it is going to have games before people take the plunge.

The above paints a grim picture, but it gets worse when you add the inherit problem that VR has to deal with. Much like 3D, there are too many people who will suffer from sickness, headaches or other negative symptoms, so true massmarket readiness is a pipedream. Of course that won't stop companies from trying again in the future. After all, 3D entertainment has come and gone a few times already. Every time it fails, it's said that the tech isn't ready. But what's more likely is that the human body simply isn't built for those kinds of experiences. A minority has no problems, but the rest of the population isn't going to put up with suffering for something that is all too often insubstantial in what it provides.

Hmmmm maybe.It sure does remember the Vita in many aspects.But I still stand by my idea.The people that were thinking that PSVR would sell millions upon millions and would push PS4 sales at this price for an unproven tech that still has many problems(Motion sickness, motion with the VR headset is somewhat limited and so on) were simply being delusional.And Sony knew this.They knew they wouldnt be able to sell to people that had no PS4 and it would be a hard sell for the ones that do have a PS4.I mean, they are not a young company and they have at the very least an idea of how the market works.So why waste resources(by that I mean make big budget games, not glorified demos or small experiences like rush of blood) on a tech that wont catch on fire, or even sell 5% of what the PS4 will eventually sell.I personally think, and I know this is a long shot, a kind of "brand awareness" for an eventual PSVR 2 that will launch alongside a new console generation, not necessarily PS5, much like the XOne launched with a Kinect, but without it being necessarily required, just deeply integrated.

And about the the motion sickness and all the negative symptoms that the VR has, I dont think that it isnt fixable.Its just a matter of improving the tech.If Im not mistaken, one year or two ago, the motion sickness problem was more severe than it is now.It is simply a matter development catching up, and discovering how to do a better eye tracking or whatever that causes the motion sickness.This ties up with the fact that the tech is simply not ready for the market, as the price is simply not the only problem.Of course there will always be people that will have motion sickness, much like some cant handle playing FPS games that involves alot of movement, but that number is minimal.I think the same will happen to VR.But that is something that only time will tell.