During Sony’s annual investor day event, the company confirmed to investors that it has a lineup of more than 20 games ready for the launch of PSVR 2—despite having not yet confirmed the headset’s release date.

Sony’s 2022 Investor Day presentation gives investors in the company an overview of recent performance and future strategic outlook at the company’s core business segments which include PlayStation, Sony Music, and Sony Pictures.

During the wide ranging presentation, the company briefly highlighted “PSVR 2 launch” as a key part of its ‘commercial expansion’ strategy designed to bring “new growth vectors” to the company.

“PlayStation has, and always will, stand for innovation. And PlayStation VR 2 is the latest manifestation of our commitment in the innovation space,” said PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan. “Our plans are now well advanced, with the most striking aspect being the sheer joy expressed by gamers and developers alike when they have the chance to enjoy virtual reality on the PlayStation VR 2.”

Ryan stopped short of confirming a specific launch date or launch window for the headset, but his presentation slide during the segment confirmed “20+ major first-party and third-party titles confirmed for PSVR 2 at launch.”

Image courtesy Sony

Ok so hear me out.

While there have been rumors that PSVR 2’s launch could land in 2023, it does seem oddly premature to be counting the number of launch titles for a headset that isn’t launching for another 12 months, or possibly even longer (ie: Holiday 2023).

Surely in another year from now the company could court many more launch titles, and that bigger number would be the one they’d want to share with investors. It’s also worth noting that in last year’s Sony Investor Day presentation, the company didn’t say anything about the number of launch titles for PSVR 2, despite mentioning the headset.

On a similar note, it would be strange for the company to reveal the final version of its upcoming headset more than a year before bringing it to market… but as we know, Sony revealed PSVR 2 in full early this year.

Image courtesy Sony

Major consumer electronics products like consoles don’t often launch in Q1, let alone Q2. Case-in-point: every PlayStation console since PS1 has launched in Q3 or Q4… and the same goes for PSVR 1 which launched in Q4.

So a good bet for the release of PSVR 2 is Q4… but the big question is which year?

Again, if we figure Q4 2023, that would mean Sony revealed the final version of PSVR 2 one year and eight months minimum before actually launching the headset… which would be pretty strange for this this kind of product. And that would also mean the company is counting the headset’s launch titles—as it did in this year’s investor day presentation—almost one and a half years ahead of time.

If we figure a Q4 2022 launch… the timing of the headset’s reveal, and the fact that Sony is already counting launch titles, start to make a lot more sense.

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But there’s a wildcard, of course; it’s been an unprecedented couple of years with the pandemic changing how organizations do business, not to mention significant disruptions to the global supply chain which has directly impacted Sony’s ability to keep its PS5 in stock.

Turbulence in the global supply chain has shifted even the best laid product launch strategies, so it may simply not be up to Sony if the headset’s launch gets pushed to 2023. For what it’s worth, the company told investors during the presentation that it has “mitigation measures in progress,” when it comes to dealing with supply chain disruptions, including “sourcing multiple suppliers for greater agility in unstable market conditions.”

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Ben is the world's most senior professional analyst solely dedicated to the XR industry, having founded Road to VR in 2011—a year before the Oculus Kickstarter sparked a resurgence that led to the modern XR landscape. He has authored more than 3,000 articles chronicling the evolution of the XR industry over more than a decade. With that unique perspective, Ben has been consistently recognized as one of the most influential voices in XR, giving keynotes and joining panel and podcast discussions at key industry events. He is a self-described "journalist and analyst, not evangelist."
  • NL_VR

    i hope for 2022 release.
    if its 2023 let it pls be early 2023

  • Yencito

    There is no way they will launch it by the end of 2023. That would make the hardware totally obsolete compared to the rest of the technologies coming. Their only option to hit the table is at most Q1 of 2023 or they are going to have a lot of competition that are going to copy them and improve on them.

    • If the headset is already finished then it makes no difference in terms of technical competitiveness relative to the competition if releases this year of next year, but it absolutely could give it a sales head start on a bunch of those other headsets.

  • Whatname?

    Those without PS5, don’t buy it now.

    Sony recently said they are ramping up the production of their PS5 – it will be a new revision of PS5 that is more compact and probably even a Pro version. They launched the new revision/Pro together with PSVR in 2016, they may do it again.

  • I honestly believe that once PSVR 2 launches, it’s going to mark a moment where PS5 pulls [faster] away from Xbox Series in a way that Microsoft will simply never be able to catch up, and that will be specifically because of the huge difference having a world-class VR experience on the console will make to everyone gaming on it versus Xbox Series, as well as how many new customers that will attract to PS5 too.

  • namekuseijin

    Q4 2022 is what history tells me it should be. psvr1 also launched roughly 2 years after PS4.

    it’s now or never… it’s long overdue, both PS5 and psvr2 plans have been postponed not only for covid but also chip shortages… many late indie releases that were also postponed for a long time also look like they were really expecting psvr2 to already be around – Moss 2 being the most glaring victim…

    I think Meta too is well aware of the heavy competition Quest 2 will face, which is why their games showcase showed nothing of the heavy hitters and focused only on a handful of indies and why they’re readying a cloud streaming service…

    anyway, hoping for the best, please don’t be just shalloware again…

  • namekuseijin

    I’m so fucking glad I went with a Quest 2 day one rather than wait…

    • Katana Man

      The problem is that Quest 2 is still a mobile chipset whereas the games simply look better on pc steam vr and soon ps5 vr. Also the quest 2 is a pain in that you need it plugged in most of the time as the battery doesn’t last more then 2 hours barely. Also the field of view was dissapointing compared to my 6 yearold samsung odyssey which has oled panels and a much better field of view and 90hz as standard from day one. The quest 2 does make a good pc pass through headset though.

      • NL_VR

        just get a powerbank you dont need to be “plugged in” to the wall socket if that what you mean

      • Sky Castle

        Having own a PSVR, Rift, Rift S, Vive, Index, Quest, and Quest 2, I have to say the Quest 2 is the most practical headset I own. I can play PCVR games while plugged in or wirelessly through wifi 6 on AT&T Fiber internet. Then take it on the go and continue playing Quest 2 on my laptop while also having the option to play it as a stand alone headset. You simply don’t have this felxibility on any other headset. Not even close. And at a price much lower than the others.

        • Katana Man

          You are right, it’s more versatile and portable and well priced.

    • NL_VR

      i also bought Quest 2 day one, but that doesnt mean i dont want to buy PS5+PSVR2 also :)

  • Parkerthon

    So Microsoft bailed on streaming puck after they saw Stadia not do so hot. Basically they looked at the numbers, looked at the product in its current state, and decided it wasn’t going to fly. Whether they go back and really try again with another prototype who knows. I just don’t think Cloud Game streaming is ready for its moment just yet. I think it’s inevitable, but the experience is at best “meh” depending on what games you play. You really need to find new ways to tackle latency and I just don’t think anything has played out in that space yet the way everyone envisioned. 5G is an absolute joke for starters and that was going to be the big boon to always on mobile gaming.

    • NL_VR

      ok i dont know your experience but Xbox clod works great on steam deck.
      And i have also tryed stadia on my computer. It works really ok as long as you play a game with controller. Mouse and keyboard on Destiny 2 wasnt good.
      The only thing i can really complain about is the picture quality sometimes, but if you play on steam deck you dont notice as much.

  • I like this speculation, but I think the logic of this article is somewhat flawed: “They usually launch in Q3-Q4, so if they miss the Q4 2022 launch window, they will launch one year later” makes no sense. If they miss the Q4 release window, they release in Q1 2023, like all companies making delays do. I don’t think investors will like delaying a launch of one year just because of a tradition. So I agree they will try to launch in Q4 2022, but if they fail, it will be beginning of 2023

  • Sky Castle

    Feels like we are still so far away from full fledged AAA VR games. At least other than AAA VR remakes. I have a feeling these so called 20 games will be indie games or just more “short experiences”.

    • kool

      I think at least 5 will be aaa not counting ones from PC. Sony has quite a few devs that make VR games that have been mia for the past couple of years.
      I think it’ll be at 5 aaa Sony games, 6 or so cross platform PC games and the rest indies. Also I think they will announce a bunch of upgrades and ports for existing PC games. I hope they announce dreams for PC and add PC compatibility to thee headset.

  • Cragheart

    I had hoped for Q4 2022 release date…