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PlayStation VR will be priced "not to make money from it " - Shuhei Yoshida

H

Halabane

Member
Need to go back and read the other thread on VR that Sony said it needed 100hz min for its display. How many ps4 titles achieve 60 fps? Then think of how much of the world will need to be in memory. Just the additional processing is going to cost a good bit before you get to the VR parts.

The OP put in those cost not Sony. Sony is going to essentially shave their margins...to me that is code for this is going to be expensive not cheap but we are not robbing you for profits message. Heck they may even take a loss to get this thing out there. But I don't see anything under 400 bucks. Unless they take a big loss...not seeing the millions of these things getting sold at that price point. Specially for an experience that you can't get a TV ad that demos how it works and get people excited.

For those outside of the gaming community who don't have a ps4 you could be talking 700-800 investment (before buying any software) for a SINGLE person experience...not your family just you. Lets get the family together to watch one of us at a time experience VR. Unless they get a family pack that lets others join in locally this is going to be the family member who lives in the basement dream machine.
 
C

ChronotriggerJM

Member
Halabane said:
Need to go back and read the other thread on VR that Sony said it needed 100hz min for its display. How many ps4 titles achieve 60 fps? Then think of how much of the world will need to be in memory. Just the additional processing is going to cost a good bit before you get to the VR parts.

The OP put in those cost not Sony. Sony is going to essentially shave their margins...to me that is code for this is going to be expensive not cheap but we are not robbing you for profits message. Heck they may even take a loss to get this thing out there. But I don't see anything under 400 bucks. Unless they take a big loss...not seeing the millions of these things getting sold at that price point. Specially for an experience that you can't get a TV ad that demos how it works and get people excited.

For those outside of the gaming community who don't have a ps4 you could be talking 700-800 investment (before buying any software) for a SINGLE person experience...not your family just you. Lets get the family together to watch one of us at a time experience VR. Unless they get a family pack that lets others join in locally this is going to be the family member who lives in the basement dream machine.
Click to expand...

I don't think I agree with any of this post.
 
J

JoseLopez

Member
BruceCLea said:
200.gif


Not trying to make a profit. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.
Click to expand...
A lot of products release at a loss to sell more and hoping the tech will become cheaper over time.
 
T

TimeEffect

Member
$299 PSVR with $249.99 PS4, and a $500.00 bundle

Besides... PS+ must generate a ton of money, so why not just take a hit on the VR and get it into as many hands as possible?
 
Danlord

Danlord

Member
Halabane said:
Need to go back and read the other thread on VR that Sony said it needed 100hz min for its display. How many ps4 titles achieve 60 fps? Then think of how much of the world will need to be in memory. Just the additional processing is going to cost a good bit before you get to the VR parts.

The OP put in those cost not Sony. Sony is going to essentially shave their margins...to me that is code for this is going to be expensive not cheap but we are not robbing you for profits message. Heck they may even take a loss to get this thing out there. But I don't see anything under 400 bucks. Unless they take a big loss...not seeing the millions of these things getting sold at that price point. Specially for an experience that you can't get a TV ad that demos how it works and get people excited.

For those outside of the gaming community who don't have a ps4 you could be talking 700-800 investment (before buying any software) for a SINGLE person experience...not your family just you. Lets get the family together to watch one of us at a time experience VR. Unless they get a family pack that lets others join in locally this is going to be the family member who lives in the basement dream machine.
Click to expand...

I don't even know where to begin with this post. You are horribly misinformed with PlayStation VR, as you were in the previous thread.
 
W

wanderingprostheyltite

Member
Sayad said:
... This looks incredibly stupid, why would anyone want to watch a movie like that?!!
Click to expand...

Sense of scale is much bigger in VR. The screen does feel a lot larger than what you probably have in your home. Granted, pixel density doesn't really make it a good replacement quality wise for a 1080/4k set right now, but with phones like Sony's 8k one coming out eventually that'll be perfect for viewing hd video content in vr.

edit: Oh damn Samsung is working on 11k displays for mobile. That's gonna be unreal.

http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/134580-forget-about-4k-and-even-8k-samsung-is-making-11k-displays
 
Blueingreen

Blueingreen

Member
Excuse my cynicism, but do people honestly expect this to sell ? who is the market for how are they going to mass market a peripheral that cost's damn well near the console. I fear this is going to be another Move, albeit with much less commercial success and a more costly loss.
 
A

AAK

Member
With all the latest info about the tech involved and the hardware within and now the pricing mentality I can see this converging anywhere between $300-$350 when I initially thought it would be >$400.... which probably means it's gonna end up being approximately $450-$500 in Canada :(
 
D

Dazza

Member
Damn Shu is a good PR person, always says the right thing.

That said, if the PSVR works out to be $199 I'm buying 2 at launch
 
F

Fat4all

Banned
Blueingreen said:
Excuse my cynicism, but do people honestly expect this to sell ? who is the market for how are they going to mass market a peripheral that cost's damn well near the console. I fear this is going to be another Move, albeit with much less commercial success and a more costly loss.
Click to expand...

They find it worth it to try.

If it becomes successful, they would of had a head start on the console side, and will keep it for a while.
 
D

Drek

Member
Blueingreen said:
Excuse my cynicism, but do people honestly expect this to sell ? who is the market for how are they going to mass market a peripheral that cost's damn well near the console. I fear this is going to be another Move, albeit with much less commercial success and a more costly loss.
Click to expand...

It won't be a loss, Sony is viewing this as their R&D for the next generation of products. I'm sure they know it isn't a "this generation" thing. They are laying down the technological groundwork and market presence to be involved in what many see as the future of gaming in more like ten years than two.
 
P

potatohead

Member
Blueingreen said:
Excuse my cynicism, but do people honestly expect this to sell ? who is the market for how are they going to mass market a peripheral that cost's damn well near the console. I fear this is going to be another Move, albeit with much less commercial success and a more costly loss.
Click to expand...

Content is king. And if the content is there, the machine will sell. If it is not.... well this could go south really badly very fast.

But it is a long-term thing.... the investment is too much at this point to give it up now.

Remember Facebook bought Oculus for a couple of billion.... VR is happening, whether we want to believe it or not. It is inevitable now. The content will eventually come.

A matter of time, only question is how soon it will happen.
 
A

ArkhamFantasy

Member
potatohead said:
Content is king. And if the content is there, the machine will sell. If it is not.... well this could go south really badly very fast.

But it is a long-term thing.... the investment is too much at this point to give it up now.

Remember Facebook bought Oculus for a couple of billion.... VR is happening, whether we want to believe it or not. It is inevitable now. The content will eventually come.

A matter of time, only question is how soon it will happen.
Click to expand...

I think Facebook's vision of VR is drastically different from Playstation's.
 
I

IAmRandom31

Banned
$400

the tech inside of this thing screams $500-600

I am for the first time ever considering VR purchase. I never thought I'd get there. But I am and I am actually more in the 90% realm now. Its going to happen this gen.
 
B

bearythebear

Member
VR should be rolled out slowly (high quality and price). Go after the rich or enthusiast market first, and then let it spread through word of mouth. Similar to how Go-Pro targeted extreme sports people first, and now everyone's grandma has one. Or how drone technology is going.
 
I

IAmRandom31

Banned
bearythebear said:
VR should be rolled out slowly (high quality and price). Go after the rich or enthusiast market first, and then let it spread through word of mouth. Similar to how Go-Pro targeted extreme sports people first, and now everyone's grandma has one. Or how drone technology is going.
Click to expand...

nah they need to put this device into every Wal-Mart and Best Buy in the country and let people try it out walled off from the rest of the store so they don't feel foolish while using it. Some people would see it and be interested but see they had to stand in front of the whole store and bypass it not wanting to look dumb. Happens with alot of things.

So wall it off, anchor it down with alarms inside the kiosk and let people walk in with a 10-15 minute time limit and test out the device. The test games should be something like Robinson or DriveClub VR or a space game of some kind. Do it around Spring Break when the kids are out of school and vacations are occurring.

Word of mouth will spread.
 
J

JCX

Member
That's what I hoped for. This is the time to be aggressive, before a VR market leader end emerges.
 
S

Spyder_Monkey

Banned
IAmRandom31 said:
$400

the tech inside of this thing screams $500-600

I am for the first time ever considering VR purchase. I never thought I'd get there. But I am and I am actually more in the 90% realm now. Its going to happen this gen.
Click to expand...

They're not stupid enough to price the thing higher than price of the PS4. Right?

Well anyways my bet would be $250-300 but it's still anyone's guess.
 
T

Triggerhappytel

Member
Doctor_Thomas said:
I think Sony want to make this a platform and, as such, are willing to take the hit on the hardware, to subsidise it with publishing cuts.

I think adoption is paramount for this to work.
Click to expand...

It's a sensible tactic. The VR hardware market is going to get very busy in a very short space of time, and Sony making their unit as accessible as possible by pricing it cheaply will probably position very appealingly.
 
F

foolishoptimist

Member
IAmRandom31 said:
$400

the tech inside of this thing screams $500-600

I am for the first time ever considering VR purchase. I never thought I'd get there. But I am and I am actually more in the 90% realm now. Its going to happen this gen.
Click to expand...

Specs wise, it's not that different to the DK2 though, which sold at cost for $350. With consumer-level economies of scale, that same product could have been sold much cheaper.
So I'm very much expecting $300(+-$50) for the headset+breakout box.
 
E

ElCidTmax

Member
The point here is the hardware needs to be powerful, or the experience will be no good. Sony has a price point that they think will be low enough that early adopters will still pay it, and the bill of materials for the hardware and included software is going to approach or even slightly exceed the asking price. This isn't google cardboard, this is an expensive system to design, create, and produce. We already know there is a breakout box that will facilitate the dual display connection (TV and headset) and that box will also do some other magic to add some processing power. The 5.7" display itself will be 1080p and support high refresh rates and 18ms low latency for head tracking. That's the established requirement to avoid getting sick when using it.

My guess is $349 as they may not want it to cost more than the PS4. That may be with no camera and definitely no move controllers. Remember, everyone already has a motion controller with the dualshock 4.

That's the same base price as a decent video card, so if you would drop $350 on a new GTX980, then you can probably drop the same on a VR rig. If that is more than you would pay for a PC upgrade, then VR isn't really for you just yet.

Sony is taking on some risk, in the sense that the market may balk at the price tag. The hope is that there are enough people willing to get on board to make good headway toward building a foundation for VR as a long-term product, and not just a gimmick. Phase 1 needs to be a great experience, so they have to put out great hardware and software and that is an expensive effort.
 
RedAssedApe

RedAssedApe

Banned
sony would be dumb to sell at loss. still in shaky financial position despite coming back from the brink. and if their VR fails all that wasted R&D money.

they'd also be dumb to sell it for too much...soooo
 
Tumle

Tumle

Member
foolishoptimist said:
Specs wise, it's not that different to the DK2 though, which sold at cost for $350. With consumer-level economies of scale, that same product could have been sold much cheaper.
So I'm very much expecting $300(+-$50) for the headset+breakout box.
Click to expand...
When you say "specs wise" are you solly focusing on the reselution? Because last I looked the DK2 didn't have a refresh rate 120 MHz or an oled with rgb sub pixels..
But I do agree with you on the price point :)
 
B

BruceCLea

Banned
I've bought consoles since the PS1. Of course I know that consoles are sold at a huge loss for the first couple of years and depend on software.


I'm laughing at the fact that a major international corporation saying they don't wanna money. Are you freaking kidding? C'mon guys, OF COURSE THEY WANT TO MAKE MONEY.
 
G

Goldenroad

Member
This means nothing without knowing how much it costs to produce. For all I know they could be taking a loss selling it at $1000, if you factor in R&D, marketing, and so forth. Maybe it will be $50. This is basically non-information without knowing all of the costs that went into/will go into producing it.
 
A

ArkhamFantasy

Member
BruceCLea said:
I've bought consoles since the PS1. Of course I know that consoles are sold at a huge loss for the first couple of years and depend on software.


I'm laughing at the fact that a major international corporation saying they don't wanna money. Are you freaking kidding? C'mon guys, OF COURSE THEY WANT TO MAKE MONEY.
Click to expand...

All he's saying is that they arent going to sell PSVR for a big profit. Some of you forget that english isn't Shu's first language, he probably just couldnt think of the exact wording he needed on the spot so he was explaining it in a way that you could understand.
 
P

plainr_

Member
BruceCLea said:
I've bought consoles since the PS1. Of course I know that consoles are sold at a huge loss for the first couple of years and depend on software.


I'm laughing at the fact that a major international corporation saying they don't wanna money. Are you freaking kidding? C'mon guys, OF COURSE THEY WANT TO MAKE MONEY.
Click to expand...

They'll be breaking even on each hardware sold just like the PS4 and make the bulk of their money from software.
 
B

BruceCLea

Banned
ArkhamFantasy said:
All he's saying is that they arent going to sell PSVR for a big profit. Some of you forget that english isn't Shu's first language, he probably just couldnt think of the exact wording he needed on the spot so he was explaining it in a way that you could understand.
Click to expand...

Ha I know. But GAF just going after me for a joke is a little silly. Its probably a bad translation just like you said. I want VR to succeed and PS4 is the best chance for it to penetrate the market.
 
I

InaudibleWhispa

Member
foolishoptimist said:
Specs wise, it's not that different to the DK2 though, which sold at cost for $350. With consumer-level economies of scale, that same product could have been sold much cheaper.
So I'm very much expecting $300(+-$50) for the headset+breakout box.
Click to expand...

The DK2 was using off the shelf components, it's got a Galaxy Note 3 screen inside of a fairly rudimentary shell. All of the consumer headsets will have custom components, and a great deal more R&D into their overall design and comfort than a devkit.
 
C

ChronotriggerJM

Member
BruceCLea said:
I've bought consoles since the PS1. Of course I know that consoles are sold at a huge loss for the first couple of years and depend on software.


I'm laughing at the fact that a major international corporation saying they don't wanna money. Are you freaking kidding? C'mon guys, OF COURSE THEY WANT TO MAKE MONEY.
Click to expand...

The PS3 was an astronomical loss leader. Sony sold each unit at a loss of around $240 if I recall correctly.

Shu is saying they want to sell this hardware at the absolute break even point to spur adoption, knowing full well the only games that will run on it will be for the PS4. It won't be like the 3DS, with janky ass hardware sold with profit.
 
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