We’re coming up to the second year anniversary of the PS5 being available to buy — something that may surprise those who haven’t been able to purchase one for the last 23 months, but there we are.
To celebrate, Sony has announced the pricing of an optional accessory that’s even more expensive than the console itself. PSVR 2 will arrive on February 22, 2023, and while there’s no word on whether it’ll reach New Zealand in such a timely fashion, it sure won’t come cheap if it does.
To give you a ballpark figure, we have pricing for four territories in the northern hemisphere, so we can calculate who’s getting the most ripped off, and where you should import one from if you still fancy it given the outlay.
In the United States, it’ll be US$549.99 (~NZ$938), in the UK £529.99 (~NZ$1,036), in the EU €599.99 (~NZ$1,010) and in Japan ¥74,980 (~NZ$870).
Given the PS5 ‘only’ cost NZ$899.95 to begin with, that’s quite a big ask. Without a PS5, PSVR 2 won’t function and is essentially just an expensive and distinctly unfashionable hat.
Still, Sony is doing its best to make it seem like a worthwhile investment, promising more than 20 titles available at launch including Horizon Call of the Mountain (which can be bundled with the headset for an extra US$50).
In fact, Sony also showcased 11 new titles coming to a PSVR 2 near (or, more likely, quite far away from) you. This includes a Dark Pictures scarefest, a military FPS called Crossfire: Sierra Squad and a Hello Neighbour spinoff, as well as titles which will be familiar to Meta Quest 2 owners such as Pistol Whip, Jurrasic World: Aftermath and After the Fall.
The fact that many of these are ports from far cheaper hardware isn’t exactly encouraging, but you’d hope the sheer volume of titles in the works suggests Sony is in it for the long haul.
Those who invested in the PSP, PS Vita or PlayStation Move may offer a hollow laugh at that concept, of course. As might owners of the original PSVR, given its games aren’t backwards compatible with the upcoming hardware. We’ll have a better idea as to whether that cynicism is justified in just a few months’ time.
