Sony announces PlayStation VR price and release date

Sony took to the stage at the Game Developers Conference to announce that their virtual reality headset, PlayStation VR, will be launched in October of this year and will cost $399 in the US and £349 in the UK. This puts it well below the price of rival headsets from both the Oculus Rift, which starts at $599 and Valve’s HTC Vive, which will sell for $799. Additionally, these more expensive headsets also require powerful PCs that typically cost upwards of $1,000, while Sony’s PlayStation 4 costs $330. This therefore puts Sony in the driving seat to deliver virtual reality to the mass market.

You might wonder why we as a film magazine are reporting on this news? It’s because while Andrew House, president and group chief executive of Sony Computer Entertainment, has stated that “Virtual reality represents a new frontier for gaming”, we’re well aware that virtual reality could represent a new frontier for movies and entertainment (both interactive and non-interactive, or a combination) as a whole. It will bring all of the different types of entertainment mediums closer together than they have ever been.

After all, we’ve had the recent announcements of VR experiences for Star Wars and Assassin’s Creed, with the former franchise-holder Disney hoping to explore the medium in entertainment products which will stand alone, rather than just representing supplementary experiences. Just check out the trailer for the insane-looking Hardcore Henry to get a sense for where things could go…