Not everyone buys tons of controllers, and not every console game even has a sub plan. Going by Sony and MS sub count, only about half of gamers even sign up.
I'm talking about the hardcore and core enthusiasts though, who typically do buy lots of controllers, multiple consoles (for different areas of their home and other family members), subscriptions (for the convenience), and other peripherals (steering wheels if they're into racing games, arcade sticks for fighting games, the more recent Pulse headsets and earbuds just to name a few).
You're thinking more of the casual and mainstream types because they have less reason to, for example, sub to a gaming service when they might only buy 1-2 games a year or just play F2P games. Or they do sub, but only for a month or two then dropping off (contributing to high churn rates).
Console gaming is an easy to use game system that gets the job done and also the kind of thing that is big in Xmas and birthday gifts. And something that is priced like a console can work. But when you start inching up $100 here $100 there etc... and then tr to add on PSVR 2 which costs more than the console itself, it'll be a brick wall of sales. Thats why consoles sell so many at Xmas.
I'm not completely in disagreement of this, most of it is true. But the areas where the prices creep up are usually in places the larger casual & mainstream audience aren't doing their spending. I'd also argue those customers have gotten used to the higher prices over time because electronics in general are more important to their lifestyle than they were back in the '90s or early '00s.
That's why I believe in stuff like $399 is the new $299, for example.
No different than PSVR 1. I think that system didnt even cost more than PS4. I think it was the same price. And that thing only sold about 5M units across 120 PS4s. And PSVR 1 was cheaper than PSVR 2 as well.
It's less about how many units it sold and more about if the people who bought the unit felt like they got their investment's worth out of it. Perhaps many didn't and that could explain slower adoption for PSVR2 on PS5 if that's true. Perhaps they did but then things like no BC for PSVR1 on PSVR2 turned them off from buying the first year.
Doesn't mean they won't buy one a bit later on; it's not like all 5 million PSVR1s sold in the first year or even first two years. Also for an optional peripheral, 5 million is not a number to scoff at regardless the potential install base. Up until the Quest 2, PSVR1 was the highest-selling VR headset on the market. I think the success of rare mainstream peripherals like the Kinect and Wii Fit board have made people forget those are exceptions, not the rule.
PC VR sales are way more sinc you got a range of prices, more and better games, and the PC crowd isnt cost conscious like a console gamer. You got console gamers getting made at $100 increases, so a VR set is even worse. If console gamers were willing to amp on specs, VR and price is no object, youd get uber consoles and VR sets for $1000 each.
PC VR sales for headsets are also better because you have a crap ton more companies making headsets. So even if a single company's headset is only doing 100K max, when you have 20 or so making headsets of comparable or better sales, then that begins to add up.
VR game sales on PC are probably better, in large part because there are simply more VR games on PC. The typical selling rate of a PC VR game is very low compared to non-VR games, but when you have 5x, 10x as many games to offer than something like PSVR2, the sales can add up.
As for gamers being price-conscious...I think you are conflating hardcore console gamers with casuals too much. Trust me, the hardcore and even a lot of core gamers do not mind paying higher prices for more performant consoles. The reason you don't see companies like Sony go that far is because they also need to ensure what console they design can scale down in costs sensibly to net in the actual price-conscious mainstream and casual gamers who tend to buy in later on the lifecycle.
There's no point designing a $1000 PS6 if you can only cost-reduce it to $600 after several years, because that still shuts out the larger market of casual and mainstream gamers. But hardcore and core enthusiasts? They'd eat that up, especially hardcore gamers. There's just a lot less of them number-wise than the casual and mainstream ones, hence why you won't get $1000 uber-powerful PS6s (at least not without taking a very modular approach where you buy extra components to beef up performance).
Your view on price is totally wrong because pricing acceptance is heavily dependent on the targeted audience. You can find a shit pan at a dollar store for $5. At Williams Sonoma a pan can be $200. Even if that same pan was only $100 at a the dollar store, it would sell like crap even though on the surface it looks like a bargain where Williams Sonoma still has it for $200. But the product will sell fine at WS because that audience is willing to pay more.
Incidentally, you just kind of supported the point I made right above this part o.0. Yes you're right that pricing acceptance depends on target audience, but you
also have to understand target audience is multi-faceted. Of the PS5 owners who do have a PSVR2, I'd bet at least 75% of them are among hardcore and core enthusiasts, because they're the least price-conscious. Virtually all of the high-ARPU customers (who are not price-conscious at all, so long as the quality is perceived to be there) are among those hardcore & core enthusiasts.
Do you honestly think 75% of all PS5s sold belong to hardcore & core enthusiasts? No. I'd say right now the split's probably closer to 60/40 in favor of hardcore/core or at best 65/45. Over time that percentage will continue to shift in favor of casual and mainstream owners. But the most potent buying power is still with the hardcore & core enthusiasts no matter what.
Still, the product's offering and quality has to be perceived as worth it to even those types, before they spend the money. If PSVR2 sales are slower than anticipated, it's most likely because Sony isn't doing a good job imparting that quality and value for it to hardcore & core enthusiast PS5 owners. That doesn't mean those customers are price-conscious; it just means they're smart with their money and want their investment to be worth the asking price.
