PS VR2 Release Date and Price in India
PS VR2 Release Date in India
Now that PS VR2 is finally around the corner, lot of people in the Indian Subcontinent want to get their hands on one as soon as possible. And also, Sony has had a history of making things extremely difficult for PS5 enthusiasts not only in India but in all other parts of the world, as there were critically low stock and whatever fresh units rolled over every month were in extremely insufficient quantity.
Now PS5 players who really want a PS VR2 don’t have to struggle much as Sony has already declared that players can purchase the VR2 unit without any special “invitations” based system. It is available for pre order now in certain countries including the UK, USA, Germany, etc. As of now, the Indian subcontinent (India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka) have not received any news about pre-order and any release date.
When can the players get a PS VR2 in India? Stock Shortage AGAIN?
Since PS VR2 unit is considered as an “accessory”, there are high chances that players can buy the unit easily as observed with accessories like the PS5 headset or controllers. The good news is that Sony has already declared that the global demand for PS VR2 is not very high and that indirectly indicates that it won’t be such a struggle to buy a unit.
Not making it a big fuzz about it, I will just lay it out clear to you guys. I know you are waiting to buy it ASAP and so am I. Below I will discuss the possible release date of the PS VR2 and also speculate the pricing based on historical data.
Release Date Woes: There is not much speculation about the release date of PS VR2 in India as the demand is pretty low and also due to the high price tag, console players are a bit concerned about buying a console VR headset with very limited titles to play on. However, history tends to repeat itself when it comes to Sony release dates; so, there are 2 main possibilities with the release dates;
a) The PSVR2 will be released in the Indian Subcontinent somewhere around April 15th 2023- 10th May 2023. This is because the fact that Sony loves to release their high-end products in India a couple of months later their initial release in the American and European countries.
Pre-orders would probably start a month prior- that is, in March 2023. Maybe there won’t be any pre-orders at all due to low demand.
Historical Data– PS VR (2016) was released in February 2016. Indian consumers finally got to get their hands on it after November 2016.
b) The PSVR2 will be released in the Indian Subcontinent on the Global release date, i.e. on 22nd February 2023. In this case, there may be a 2-day prior pre-order listing (on 20th February 2023).
Conclusion– Players don’t need to worry as there is very less demand (I mean the demand is significantly less than what Sony had projected earlier). Either PS VR2 will be launched on 22nd Feb 2023 or in the month of May 2023. Players do not need to panic as they will probably get their hands on a PS VR2 unit as soon as it gets initially released in India.
What is the price of PS VR2 in India?
(Pricing Speculation of PS VR2)
I think this time Sony will keep the price of the PS VR2 closer to the price of the PS5 standard edition (which is INR 50,000/-). However, the product is priced at USD 550. This roughly translates to INR 45,500/- However, based on the pricing of previous flagship PlayStation devices, I think we can roughly speculate the pricing of the PS VR2 in the following ways-
- PS VR2 will be priced at a round figure of INR 50,000 (approximately PKR 157,000). This will enable Sony to attract more sales as the customers who have already purchased a PS5 would not mind the fact that Sony has not made the PS VR2 in India more expensive than its US counterpart.
- PS VR2 will be priced at INR 55,000- INR 60,000 (approximately PKR 173,000). This will create PS VR2 an even niche product (which it already is) and make it even less saleable in the Indian subcontinent. Already players have paid premium price of buying a PS5 (INR 50,000 for the standard disc edition), and it is highly unlikely that the PS5 playing masses will readily accept this price and consider buying this product. This will cause the demand of the PSVR2 go even lower.
What does the historical data say?
The PS VR (launched in 2016) was priced at launch at USD 399. And in India, the launch price of PS VR was INR 38,000. At that time even if we consider 1USD = INR 69, still it’s a difference of INR 10,000 from the US release price.
Conclusion– I strongly think that the PS VR2 will be priced at a higher range in the Indian Subcontinent. The price of the PS VR2 will be around INR 55,000 to INR 60,000. Sony may find a sweet spot between the 2 values (I guess they will settle it for INR 57,999/-?) Who knows?
Is the PS VR2 worth buying though?
Now that is an interesting question. A lot of PS5 players are quite happy with their traditional gaming on the PlayStation 5. However, the things that PS VR2 offers are quite unique and highly immersive. Here are a few key features of the PS VR2-
1. Foveated Rendering
2. Eye Tracking
3. 4K OLED displays
4. 3D audio enabled ear buds
5. 2 motion controllers with Haptic Feedback and Adaptive Triggers
6. Haptic Feedback enabled in the Headset.
Here is a detailed video review by IGN-