Sony is increasing manufacturing in order to make a major bet on the upcoming VR headset

According to persons acquainted with the situation, Sony Group Corp. has an ambitious production goal for the PlayStation VR2 headset of 2 million units by March of 2019. This goal defies the general economic downturn.

According to the individuals, who asked not to be identified since the conversations involved private information, mass production of the virtual reality goggles started in September and hasn't yet run into supply chain issues. Depending on how quickly the device sells after going on sale early next year, the production estimate might need to be changed.

Several years after the widespread availability of commercial products from companies like HTC Corp. and Oculus, which is now a part of Meta Platforms Inc. According to Sony's roadmap, the PSVR2 will be significantly more popular than the PlayStation VR headsets for the PlayStation 4, which took eight months to sell a million units. According to IDC data, Meta's Quest 2, the most popular VR headset on the market right now, shipped 2.8 million units in its first quarter of availability.

The PSVR2's official price and release date have not yet been announced by Sony. The PlayStation 5 console's availability has been slowed since its launch in late 2020 because of supply chain bottlenecks, according to the sources. The company's current plan to begin selling the headset in early 2023 will coincide with projected easing from those bottlenecks, they said. That would give the business enough headsets and consoles in stock to launch a significant marketing campaign. For use with the VR headset, users will require a PS5 console.

A Sony Interactive Entertainment representative declined to comment.

Because the VR market hasn't really taken off, especially in Sony's home market of Japan, game makers are still wary of it. Although Meta's Quest 2 is hailed as the industry high water mark and is projected by IDC to have shipped 17 million units to date, it is nothing compared to other goods in the console, mobile, and PC gaming industries.

The VR industry has also been impacted by the global economic slump and rising material costs caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. In reaction to the escalating cost of manufacture, Meta increased the Quest 2's pricing in August.

Francisco Jeronimo, vice president of data and analytics at IDC, stated that customers are becoming more cautious about spending money on non-essential things due to the rising cost of living. "Sony may need to reduce output if the economic crisis worsens."

Suppliers and business partners of Sony are unsure of how long the Japanese company will continue its fast-paced production plan following launch.

More than 20 games are now being developed for the PSVR2 by both internal and outside game developers, according to Sony, which wants to use popular in-house franchises like Horizon to promote the device's launch.