The gaming community have been waiting with bated breath since the beginning of the week in anticipation of the PlayStation VR announcement at the San Francisco Game Developers Conference (GDC). Let's get right to it: the PlayStation VR is priced at $399 USD (399 euroes, 349 GBP, 44,980 JPY) and slated to arrive to the market on October, 2016. Pre-orders for the PSVR have yet to be announced at the time of writing.
"Price is critical for adoption. PSVR will launch globally in October 2016 for $399," said Andrew House of Sony Computer entertainment.
As expected, Sony strategically priced its virtual reality headset below its higher-end rivals Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. Sony first announced the preliminary specs of the PlayStation VR at the 2015 Tokyo Game Show (TGS): The VR headset boasts a 5.7-inch OLED display at 1920 x 1080 resolution (960 ×1080 per eye) at a refresh rate of up to 120Hz. The user will experience a field of vision of approximately 100 degrees as well as 3D audio for an enhanced immersion experience. Finally, the PlayStation VR also features the standard accelerometer and gyroscopic motion sensors.
Perhaps the most surprising announcement of all was the number of titles that will be available at launch: 50 in all, including a PSVR exclusive Star Wars game!
"We're partnering with EA and Lucasfilm to make a Star Wars Battlefront PSVR exclusive experience/title," announced House.
Sony is not wasting any time pushing its latest product and it's clear that the Japanese tech giant is not only deeply invested in the product, but extremely confident and passionate about the work its team has done. Stay tuned, as we expect to learn even more details regarding the PlayStation VR and PSVR game titles in the months ahead.
Sony says PlayStation VR will have 50 games by the end of the year https://t.co/dTiWpoJLXv pic.twitter.com/yVeIo5AP8B
— The Verge (@verge) March 15, 2016
#PlayStationVR final box contents. pic.twitter.com/D1urhyGEwe
— Greg Miller (@GameOverGreggy) March 15, 2016
Final #PlayStationVR Specs. pic.twitter.com/jFHbLOBzSO
— Greg Miller (@GameOverGreggy) March 15, 2016
Gaming Community Reacts To PlayStation VR Announcement:
So how did people feel after the PlayStation VR announcement? Here are some notable reactions via Twitter:
An extremely valid argument in the Oculus Vs. PS VR debate:
For $800 you can have a PS4 and PlayStation VR vs $1500 for Oculus/Vive and a gaming PC.
— Austin Evans (@austinnotduncan) March 15, 2016
Which would you go for?
Some believers:
if I buy PlayStation VR and the only game I ever play on it is Rez infinite I’m totally ok with it
— deuce papi (@y2kBASED) March 15, 2016
I can't wait to get my hands on the PlayStation VR! https://t.co/YeGn416uF7
— Okey (@LittleBigOkey) March 15, 2016
And a skeptic:
Game journo 1: So PlayStation VR is $399
— Owen Good (@owengood) March 15, 2016
Pundit 2: That’s affordable!
Journo 1: Very!
Pundit 2: You buying one?
Journo 1: I’m sorry, what?
