They said VR wouldn’t sell and if it does, not in high volumes. Sony begs to differ – Jim Ryan, president and chief executive of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe talking with CNBC:

 We know that the replenishment cycle is a good one, production is going exactly as we anticipated. We have made decisions to further increase capacity at the back end of 2016 and into 2017, so there are going to be a lot of PlayStation VRs around the world, whether that’s enough to satisfy the demands of the market, we’ll see 

As such, demand should be taken into context; this isn’t units sold in the millions like an iPhone launch or the arrival of a new console. But for something that’s entirely new, VR sales are off to a healthy start and it helps that there are over 25 games to get on day one. For Sony and the entire VR industry, the big question going forward will be if they can keep consumers interested and not have PS VR or VR in general be like the Wii where it sold extremely well during launch, but eventually became the device that sits in a corner and collects dust. More compelling content is a must for any new console launch, but especially true for something as entirely different as virtual reality.

On a side note, I love using pictures of execs when the topic at hand revolves around something they’ve said. In tech, we tend to know the star players, but in gaming, a lot of the people in charge are never seen. Hell, we’ve had video game award shows where CG characters have accepted the award rather than the people who actually brought them to life, and that’s a shame.

Discuss:

What are your thoughts on VR’s long term prospects?

[Via CNBC]