• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Only 9.6 million VR headsets have been shipped WORLDWIDE in 2022.

All I can say is I remember literally everyone claiming Half-Life Alyx was the killer app nearly 3 years ago, and Astro Bot Rescue Mission was the killer app two years before that. No reason to believe a "true" killer app that's going to pull consumers in in droves is coming any time soon IMO. The Oculus Rift came out 7 years ago at this point.

But who knows, I've been wrong before. Crazier things have happened.
The problem with both of those games mentioned is they are stuck behind an expensive walled garden. You have to own a good pc and headset to play Half-Life Alyx, and a PS4 and PSVR for Astro Bot Rescue Mission. In order for VR to truly take off, those types of games need to by on Quest 2 style hardware, the entry level all-in-one units that are most accessible to the consumer.
 

poppabk

Cheeks Spread for Digital Only Future
this is 10 million of ALL vr headsets. not just quest. VR is an industry made by multiple companies. Playstation is a brand made by one. that's why this number should be higher
Other than possibly the pico I don't think there are any other major players. Even on steam the quest 2 is at 40% of all users it's gotta be a lot higher than that for all sales of VR headsets probably 80%.
 

analog_future

Resident Crybaby
killer app attached to an expensive 1000 dollar headset which was attached to a pricey rig needed to run it and released in a time when VR was still unaffordable

killer app attached to a gaming console on a terrible headset that cost 400 dollars in a time when VR was much much younger

VR is in a much better much more popular spot than it was even 3 years ago. it's got the mainstream's curiosity, now it needs their attention
The problem with both of those games mentioned is they are stuck behind an expensive walled garden. You have to own a good pc and headset to play Half-Life Alyx, and a PS4 and PSVR for Astro Bot Rescue Mission. In order for VR to truly take off, those types of games need to by on Quest 2 style hardware, the entry level all-in-one units that are most accessible to the consumer.

I guess we'll see how it plays out! I do think Facebook being the major player in this market is putting a lot of people off as well.
 
Last edited:
I guess we'll see how it plays out! I do think Facebook being the major player in this market is putting a lot of people off as well.
Yes, Facebook owning Oculus is something I've seen turn a lot of people off, and despite that its still the best selling unit ever. They don't inspire trust as a company, and their marketing push of the Metaverse instead of gaming turns people off. Which is a shame because its a good bit of kit with a lot of amazing games, packaged in an ecosystem that never comes off like its at all related to Facebook.
 

feynoob

Banned
I played some VR apps today, and it's fantastic.
Sadly, eye rash is something I hate about using quest 2. Too many apps charge a lot of money, which makes the experience small.

Nevertheless, the potential is there. I watched a documentary video, like it was infront of me.
 

Laptop1991

Member
VR is still an overpriced under supported niche at the minute for me, yeah some gamers love it, but the price of the gear, especially on PC and the lack of really big titles to promote it and push it forwards is the reason i haven't bought one, there isn't enough top tier games for me to spend a thousand quid or there about's on the Valve Index or the HTC Vibe Pro 2 etc,

The Occulus Rift came out in 2012 so it's not new now and it's also discontinued and replaced by a newer VR set in the same price range quite quickly.
 
Last edited:
I put it in the same category as stereoscopic 3D and Kinect. It’s one of those things you only think you want, until the novelty wears off and you realize that good old ass-on-couch with a controller is what you really want.

Also just think about it for a couple seconds: how many gamers want to stand up and pantomime the kind of shit a video game character does? Come on.

People actually brought over 32 million Kinects though, VR hasn't done that yet.

Just under 10m is shockingly high, actually.

Shipped.
 

diffusionx

Gold Member
VR is still an overpriced under supported niche at the minute for me, yeah some gamers love it, but the price of the gear, especially on PC and the lack of really big titles to promote it and push it forwards is the reason i haven't bought one, there isn't enough top tier games for me to spend a thousand quid or there about's on the Valve Index or the HTC Vibe Pro 2 etc,

The Occulus Rift came out in 2012 so it's not new now and it's also discontinued and replaced by a newer VR set in the same price range quite quickly.
2012 was the date of the first Kickstarter for the Oculus dev prototype. The actual device didn't come out to customers until 2016.
 

Marvel14

Banned
Wheres that Gaffer I was arguing with on a Meta Quest 2 thread I think who was insisting VR has already gone mainstream?

Y'all know the type, true believer ideologue who doesn't respond well to contrary evidence.

Forgot their name tho ..
 

Laptop1991

Member
2012 was the date of the first Kickstarter for the Oculus dev prototype. The actual device didn't come out to customers until 2016.
Fair enough, I wouldn't know exactly when as i've never bought one, but that just shows it is niche and needs more big games and the price to come down more, on PC especially. it was promoted a lot from the outset though, i remember the all the hype.
 
Last edited:

consoul

Member
In 2022, anyone interested in VR knew the next wave of headsets was coming in 2023.
It shouldn't be a surprise then that sales cooled off in 2022.
 

poppabk

Cheeks Spread for Digital Only Future
In 2022, anyone interested in VR knew the next wave of headsets was coming in 2023.
It shouldn't be a surprise then that sales cooled off in 2022.
Plus the price increase on the Quest 2, although that is actually what persuaded ne to jump in right before it increased as I had been holding out for a price cut.
 

ZehDon

Gold Member
It depends on how many of those are not sitting on shelves, globally.
Not really. I doubt a retailer purchased a million headsets, only to find them all sitting on their shelves. It’s a niche product - I doubt the percentage of unsold is all that high.
 

FunkMiller

Gold Member
Sales will continue to dwindle all the time nobody is making games worth buying the headsets for. The complete dry up of triple AAA full length titles has killed my interest.
 

ByWatterson

Member
VR is the epitome of "neat."

As in, "Have you been to Costco? You can save so much money! It's neat."

VR isn't important or really all that asked for. It's just neat.
 

Mownoc

Member
9.6m units in this year alone seems pretty good to me. Especially in a year where the most popular headset just upped their price by $100 and we haven't had a big new headset launch for a while.
 

SF Kosmo

Al Jazeera Special Reporter
Look, Quest 2 has shipped.similar numbers to PS5, and that's impressive. It's not in a bad spot, but it's obviously worth noting that the numbers are in decline.

VR has a content problem. Early on a lot of people were investing in VR hoping the market would grow, but only a handful made real money. Meta has slowed way down in terms of their investment in big marquee games and licenses, and PlayStation is stuck in the gulf between generations which means no one is really funding that kind of content right now.

It may get a bit better when PSVR2 launches and hopefully that system has longer legs. The first PSVR felt like min-spec VR and felt obsolete pretty soon after it launched.

This applies to "The Metaverse" as well. If you want users to join your meta world of user content you need to create something compelling for them to build off of in the first place. You can't just build a framework, you need to create content that people want to play. Rec Room has somehow done a better job of this than Facebook's billions of dollars.
 
Last edited:

Zug

Member
Immersion and escapism are the reasons I play video games.
VR offers an incomparable degree of immersion and escapism, so for me it's the ultimate way to play video games. Once you've tasted to HL:Alyx or a well modded version of Skyrim VR it's very hard to go back.
It'll stay niche for a lot of good reasons (space needed, isolation, cluckiness, tiring/engaging activity) but really I hope It'll stay there. Since Meta is in a bad shape and might need to kill it's VR branch to save itself, I hope that the PSVR2 will deliver enough to keep the VR flame on.
 

Punished Miku

Human Rights Subscription Service
Sounds dope and 40% off on Steam, bought
The logo looks like some mobile game, but it's secretly one of the best VR games out there. Hope you like it!

It's my go to game for showing people VR for the first time. Very casual friendly.
 
Last edited:

Azurro

Banned
The truth is that VR is much more of a novelty than anything else. Videogames are relatively passive entertainment, you are not passive but you are also not running around chasing a ball or tackling someone. As such, a lot of people are wowed by the VR experience, but they don't necessarily want to stand up and wave their arms around every time they want to play a game. It's simply way more niche than people want to admit.

One of my circle of friends are very casual gamers. They all got a Quest and we're very excited about whatever multiplayer game they were playing. Which was cool, but after 6 months, where are those VR sets? Somewhere in their closets. It doesn't have enough staying power.
 

Magic Carpet

Gold Member
I'm waiting to see what Apple does with AR and if it can replace my prescription glasses with something that will need to be on my face anyway. My eyes no longer work with contact lenses, last year I had to upgrade to Bi-focal. I'm officially OLD.
 

mckmas8808

Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
https://www.techspot.com/news/97106-falling-vr-headset-sales-could-spell-bad-news.html

Also apparently Facebooks VR division has lost $16 billion since the start of the year, so I think the question is for all companies and not just for them, if this VR thing is sustainable and able to be profitable, or if it's just an optional gateway to other services companies hope people will spend money on to eventually make up for losses in VR.

That loss also includes post-price increase for Quest 2, if the Quest 2 was a major cause for those losses, how much will TCL, HTC, and Sony be losing?

Sony had said early on that they weren't losing money on PSVR. Remember that Sony is a hardware company first and foremost. Facebook isn't!
 

drezz

Member
Impressive.
Quest is on fire despite the price hike.
To be fair, they did a discounted bundle(RE4+BeatSaber+Quest2) at almost the pre-hike price from Early Black Friday until Christmas.
So they did get a bit extra coal to help stoke that fire.
Now its fully priced again and we will see how it goes coming this new year!
Hoping PSVR2 comes out swinging.
 

Rawker

Member
Not a peripheral I care for, app specific I'm sure it works great but in general it's not something I want to experience on a regular basis. It'd pair nicely with the Dreamcast fishing rod.
 

UltimaKilo

Gold Member
Whoever is fan of games and haven't at least tried VR is missing big time. Once you load up Half-Life: Alyx, that shit is literally transformative. Same with Flight Sim VR and Alien Mother VR

...and yeah it shows the potential, sadly the content is still pretty dry.

I am for one glad that Sony is pushing VR to mainstream. Zuck can get fucked, even tho I own Quest 2, because they don't push it as gaming device, but some metaverse bullshit. If they would instead fund some bigger studio to do VR game...
I disagree. There's nothing that impressive on VR yet, including HLA. Almost all the games have been small little games, limited by the sheer amount of resource hog that VR is. Moreover, VR headsets are still incredibly uncomfortable and heavy, offer constricted FOV that make it seem like the wearer has goggles on and has yet to crack the refresh rate needed to make it comfortable for almost all people (240hz+) at 8k per eye.

I see the potential for VR, but it's very far off.
 

dano1

A Sheep
Consumers are lazy, don't want to play games while also burning calories, at least that is my opinion. Playing games in VR is 1000x better than with a controller in front of a TV, more immersive, and your body can be used instead of being sedentary. I think the big problem with lack of adoption more so however is not enough AAA games. If tomorrow the industry began to push hardcore native support for VR, with exclusive content, it would be a game changer. The vast majority of games out there are at best amazing tech demos for what is possible.
The main problem with vr especially with PSVR1 was the pain in the butt setup every time you want to play! PSVR2 is sooo much better but it still takes time to get into a game. But yes so worth it!!
 

damidu

Member
that number supposed to be worrying?

not gonna replace traditional gaming anytime soon, maybe ever.
it’s simply more demanding for human physiology. you can’t expect majority of people to seamlessly switch to that.

doesn’t change the fact, it’s still one of the very few exciting things happening in the gaming space currently.
pretty sure most of the naysayers never tried stuff like re, alyx or astrobot
 

reezoo

Member
9.6m is quite good given what is required in terms of time, money and tech know how. VR is here and will not go away now. Only question is when will it go mainstream. Also in terms of platform Sony has the most seamless experience from content publishing to compute to headset. Sony will benefit from it tremendously in future. It has all the checkboxes ticked for “metaverse”.
 

Tg89

Member
VR is probably like 30 years off from where it needs to be. And even then it will just be a different type of gaming, similar to how mobile is now, it won't suddenly become the only way to play.

Right now VR headsets are half baked overpriced tech with glaring flaws and most of the games are tech demos at best and at worst trying to be a platform for genres that have already been figured out by "traditional" gaming. The former results in experiences that are novel for about 5-10 minutes tops and the latter results in straight up bad games which you could be having a better experience without the headset on.

Surprised it's as high as it is honestly. But half of that is probably just lonely dudes watching porn.
 
Last edited:

KXVXII9X

Member

I put it in the same category as stereoscopic 3D and Kinect. It’s one of those things you only think you want, until the novelty wears off and you realize that good old ass-on-couch with a controller is what you really want.

Also just think about it for a couple seconds: how many gamers want to stand up and pantomime the kind of shit a video game character does? Come on.
No, speak for yourself. I'm tired of gamers telling me what I want. And yes, it is usually the stuff labeled as "gimmicks." Not everyone wants the same thing. There is a reason the Nintendo DS is my favorite console. I love my Quest 2. I love 3D. I love motion controls. I love controllers. I love flat screen and VR. I welcome stuff like Ringfit Adventure. We could use more variety.
 
Stop trying to make VR happen. It's not going to happen.
tech that succeeds is tech that there's a demand for. vr's a technology that's been attempting to create demand for years now. how much time has to pass before it's obvious to all that there simply never will be any?...
 
Last edited:

Lasha

Member
VR is always going to take more effort. Driving games are probably easiest on the body. Using VR is still much harder than a flat screen since checking mirrors and turns requires a lot of movement. Adding more effort into the hobby is the antithesis of modern trends towards easy modes and "progression" mechanics.
 

Sleepwalker

Member
The lack of killer apps and understanding of what works and what doesn't are the current obstacles, as well as price of course.

There's no reason why sim genres (driving, flying) shouldnt have VR as their best form

Then we have things like on rail shooters, strategy games, tabletop, turn based rpgs that could be really really cool in vr but no one really is doing them in any significative way. Re7 is still one of VR killer apps and that shit is old as fuck. Alyx is incredible but if its not valve then no one else is developing this kind of game, why? Hope Sony takes the lead.
 
I may be a fool.. but 9.6 million in 2022 seems rather good doesn’t it? The ps5 only just recently hit 25 million lifetime sales, and it’s been out since 2020.

This.. doesn’t seem all that doom and gloom to me.. or am I missing something here?
 

kungfuian

Member
The potential install base for any hardware addition (VR, 32x, Kinect, whatever) is so limited (a fraction of consoles sold) and the software sales a fraction of that. Not sure the motivation is to sell high volumes of units, because if it was they would be making a different product.

I honestly believe Sony has 'High End' VR to further position it's Brand as "Premium" and to differentiate it's platform from the competition. It also reinvigorates interest in their platform mid cycle and allows them to test out the VR waters so if/when VR does hit mass market they are there and ready.

PSVR 2's is an iterative device with a limited audience (some small fraction of PS5 owners). Success will not be strictly measured by sales.
 

sankt-Antonio

:^)--?-<
VR will not become mainstream until its 100EUR, wireless, is under 100g in weight and looks something like this:
22cd72725-bildschirm-foto-2022-12-3.png
 
Top Bottom