Interesting things are taking place behind the scenes of the VR industry. According to Sony Corp’s gaming chief, the gaming market needs more competition. This is a pretty interesting statement, considering Sony is the clear market leader in this regard. Their growing lead over competitors is getting “discomforting”, which is both good and bad. Without any real competition, the virtual reality gaming industry will not grow one bit whatsoever.
Sony Dominates Virtual Reality Gaming
No one can deny Sony has made some smart decisions when it comes to their virtual reality products. No competitor comes even close in terms of sales and it doesn’t look as if any new players will emerge soon. Without competition, this industry cannot thrive, though. Both HTC and Oculus simply move too few units to become even a remote threat to Sony right now. In fact, the Japanese company sold over 500,000 VR headset units between June and late August.
While that number is positive news for the company, it’s also cause for concern. More specifically, the Japanese giant hopes there will be more competition moving forward. Considering how their headset requires a PS4 console, one would expect someone to take the “fight” to them. So far, that has not happened yet. Microsoft would be an obvious competitor, but their HoloLens will not release until next year or perhaps even 2019.
Considering how nascent the VR industry is, one would expect gaming competitors to pop up everywhere. Most companies are focusing on the mobile space right now, with varying degrees of success. Other than the Samsung Gear VR, no mobile headset represents any significant sales figures, though. Despite price cuts for the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift, their sales figures aren’t increasing much. It is unclear how this market will evolve if no new competitors emerge.
Earlier this week, the company announced new plans for their Japanese VR industry. a few new tools and services will launch over the next few months. It is evident people who want to game in virtual reality need to look into the PlayStation VR. It provides an unprecedented experience which a lot of people seem to like right now. Moreover, it has a growing library of games at affordable prices. The market dominance by Sony is pretty scary, though, but there isn’t much to be done about it for the time being.
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