Sony describes VR as “a bit of a challenging category right now”

Sony has been testing the waters with different hardware this year, including the PlayStation Portal and the PS VR2. In an interview with the Financial Times, Eric Lempel, the head of global business at Sony Interactive Entertainment, reveals how some of these projects have been faring.

Though Lempel states that the VR headset sales are “going well,” the VR category is still challenging. He argues that “there was a higher expectation generally for what VR would do to gaming.” Other hardware benefitted from the Black Friday sales period, including the PS Portal. According to Lempel, PlayStation enjoyed its most successful November ever in both sales and revenue.

Sony is having no problems selling PS5s

As Sony announced this week, over 50 million PS5s have been sold. This, according to Financial Times, means the console outsold “Microsoft’s Xbox by almost three to one in 2023.” Lempel comments on the sales milestone, claiming that with prior supply problems solved, the console is “now on track to outsell PlayStation 4” which has sold over 117 million units.

Referencing data from Ampere Analysis, FT claims PS5 sales grew 65% while the Switch fell 18% and the Xbox fell 15%. Carolina Milanesi, an analyst from Creative Strategies, states that the divergences reflect differing strategies from the hardware manufacturers: “Sony really cares about selling hardware but from a Microsoft perspective, it’s more about their subscription service.”

Sony recently released a slimmer version of the console, and with the right line-up of titles, 2024 could be another successful year for the company. Fortunately, we have titles like Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth and Rise of the Ronin to look forward to.