Virtual reality has been praised as being the next big thing in entertainment. Most notably, games will be the most prevalent form of virtual reality entertainment. However, the price of the initial VR headsets made the transition into mainstream difficult. Fortunately for many gamers, the PlayStation VR is set to take over the market in 2016 thanks to its lower price.
The emerging technology of virtual reality headsets is still a niche product, as the transition into the mainstream has encountered difficulties thanks to the still overly expensive price of the first headsets to hit the market accompanied by the actual high-performance computers needed to run them. Overall, VR is an expensive hobby not everyone can afford.
The competition between the three main VR headsets, HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and PlayStation VR will eventually lead to improved technology at a more accessible price. However, a new report from Digitimes, based in Taiwan, compares the estimated number of VR headset sales made by each company.
According to the report, only around 450,000 HTC Vive units were expected to ship by the end of the year. Things are not looking too good for Oculus either as Digitimes estimated that it will ship around 650,000 units of its Rift headset. Finally, there is some relatively good news for Sony which will ship 1.5 million PlayStation VR headset around the world despite just being released last month.
The main factor that will likely contribute to its success is that it costs only $399, compared to the $799 HTC Vive or $499 Oculus Rift. Sony manages once again to upstage its competition thanks to its lower price point, just as the PS4 massively outsold the Xbox One which was $100 more expensive.
Out of all three companies, HTC had the highest hopes of VR being quickly adopted into the mainstream. HTC was relying heavily on their new VR headset to lift itself out of the precarious financial situation it found itself in after poor sales in the smartphone department.
However, new competition in the VR industry is already on the horizon, with Microsoft announcing a partnership with hardware manufacturers to develop an incredible cheap $200 VR headset with in-built trackers of your body in space.
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