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Sony's PlayStation VR Outsold HTC Vive & Oculus Rift With 915,000 Units; Will Increase Production Outside US By April

Sony's PlayStation VR Outsold HTC Vive & Oculus Rift With 915,000 Units; Will Increase Production Outside US By April

Regin Olimberio

Tech giant Sony is happy with the way PlayStation VR is capturing the market despite skepticism when it first launched in October last year. Sony's VR unit has solid figures moving forward in 2017 and sold more than 915,000 units in just 4 months.

Sony anticipated a lukewarm reception for PlayStation VR and was cautious during the rollout. However, the device might achieve a million units by mid-April this year. According to Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Andrew House, there are instances when users might not find PSVR in shops due to constantly being sold out. He also boasted that people are literally lining outside shops when they know that stocks have replenished.

When New York Times asked House how they plan to address the shortage, he revealed that they are increasing PSVRs manufacturing quota by April. Sony is also planning to introduce PlayStation VR in other markets including Latin America.

Comparably, research firm SuperData Research concludes that PlayStation VR competitors aren't doing as stellar in terms of sales. Competitors are yet to release their sales figures but analysts suspect that they are nowhere near PSVR. HTC Vive is the strongest competitor but projections pegged the figure at 420,000 units sold. Another is Facebook's Oculus Rift that has estimated sales of 243,000 headsets sold, according to The Verge.

VR-dedicated premium headsets is a relatively new niche that is carefully being tested by tech companies like Sony. There is a limited market for PlayStation VR at first since few PCs delves into the technology. Other times, there are inexpensive alternatives that use smartphones for visuals. If there are sure customers, most of them are coming from the video gaming sector.

VR offerings like PlayStation VR are also facing huge challenges regarding limited contents and "side effects" like motion sickness. Most of the time, premium VR headsets also require a powerful PC to make it work seamlessly.

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