Contrary to what most people might think, virtual reality is slowly hitting its stride. While still not a mainstream trend by any means, things are gradually improving. The amount of VR headset sales is on the rise, with Sony still dominating the market. However, there is some healthy growth, as we now have over 1 million units being sold in one quarter for the first time in history. An exciting development that will hopefully result in even more positive momentum.
VR Headset Sales are on the Rise
With the holiday season upon us, it is only normal we see sales figures go up. That is the case for most products in existence today, although VR headsets have always been an exception. More specifically, last year’s sales were not higher compared to the rest of the year. This year may prove to be pretty different, especially when looking at the new Canalys report. The figures in this study are rather promising, for a change, although it is still too early to make any accurate predictions.
With Sony adding another 490,000 headsets to the figures, the company is in a very good place. We have seen multiple PlayStation VR headset discounts during Black Friday, which may boost the numbers for Q4 as well. Oculus beat HTC in terms of shipped units, with 210,000 versus 160,000. Whether or not these will all be sold, remains to be determined, though. All of these headsets received hefty discounts several months back, which may explain the increased interest. Keeping this trend up will be a different matter altogether, though.
It is evident Sony will continue to outpace both Oculus and HTC in the VR headset department. Considering how PlayStation 4 owners are more keen on buying a VR headset compared to PC owners. That is partially because the PS4 is a powerful yet cheaper option compared to building a beastly PC to run VR games. Moreover, one could argue PlayStation has the better catalog of VR games these days, although that will always be a topic of debate.
Moreover, Sony, HTC, and Oculus make up for 86% of the total VR headset market. That is somewhat surprising considering Samsung’s Gear VR headset has proven to be extremely popular as well. With the Microsoft Windows 10 Mixed Reality headsets launching in Q3 as well, it will be interesting to see how these new headsets will shake things up. Rest assured there will be some interesting trends in the VR headset industry yet to come. Things already look promising, but things may finally fire on all cylinders as of next year.
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