This year, gamers will see the rise of virtual reality. Two products are going to be leading the charge — the Oculus Rift and PlayStation VR. Recently Oculus showed its hand, revealing the price, release date, and minimum specs for PC. With that out in the open, Sony now has the chance to show consumers why they should buy PlayStation VR over the Oculus Rift.
Here are 3 ways Sony can get the edge over the Oculus:
1. Having a lower price than the Oculus Rift
The price for the PlayStation VR is a great starting point for Sony — especially because of how much backlash Oculus is getting for its $600 price tag.
Don’t expect PlayStation VR to be cheap when it is released — a good bit of money will still be needed to buy the headset. Ideally, Sony should be aiming for the $300 price range for PlayStation VR. Sony has compared the upcoming release of their VR headset to a console release. Relative to the current price of the PlayStation 4, a $300 dollar price tag for PlayStation VR isn’t too far fetched.
Even if people don’t already own a PS4, it would cost $650 to pick up both, a PlayStation 4 and PlayStation VR. Not bad for only being $50 more expensive than the Oculus Rift.
2. A good support of first party games
This point is obvious. If Sony wants PlayStation VR to be successful, they need a great first-party lineup. Any third-party game that comes with VR support will most likely work on both the Oculus Rift and PlayStation VR, giving both headsets a similar game library. Any first-party games released for PlayStation VR will let the headset stand out from the Oculus Rift.
At the moment, Rez Infinite, Rigs and more have already been confirmed for PlayStation VR. In fact, during the last week, Sony has announced that more than 100 PlayStation VR games are in development.
3. Selling to the casual gaming market
Sony has sold over 35 million PS4 units worldwide, and a certain number of these PS4 owners are casual gamers. The casual gaming market is one that Oculus just can’t reach. The $1,500 price tag for an Oculus Rift and a PC powerful enough to run it is intimidating for the general consumer (and even hardcore gamers), and it will be the main reason why people won’t be picking up the Oculus Rift.
Sony has the opportunity to sell PlasyStation VR both to hardcore gamers and those less inclined to keep up with gaming news. Both are the types who like picking up the latest AAA, like Call of Duty or Fallout 4 and would like the idea of playing these AAA games in virtual reality.
Now I don’t expect everyone to pick up a VR headset, and neither do Sony since they expect to sell around 1.5 million headsets in the first year. But just simply having a larger group of people to sell to compared to the Oculus Rif will be a great advantage for PlayStation VR.
And there you go. That is three ways PlayStation VR can get the edge over the Oculus Rift. And now I got a question for you. Which VR headset will perform the best this year? The Oculus Rift, or PlayStation? Let us know in the comments below.
