VR software sales on PC are a small fraction of those on PSVR2 and standalone VR headsets, based on the latest information.
Traunt Pixel’s m0dus took to gaming enthusiast forum Reset Era to share that sales of VR titles on the PC platform are barely a fraction of those on PSVR2 and standalone VR, ranging from “1 to 10 orders of magnitude” lower. They mentioned that 4 months after launch, sales of Runner on PSVR2 are comparable to that of Meta’s platform, “far, far, far, FAR outstripping” sales of the PC version.
According to the developer, PSVR2 is likely doing just fine at this juncture, especially given that the headset only recently hit retail in the US. In their opinion, PC support, while certainly better for the consumer, is not likely going to move the needle in any significant way for Sony’s headset in terms of sales, and may have helped the company secure a higher software profit margin on the short and intermediate term.
That’s not to say, however, that Traunt Pixel will not be supporting the PC platform with its future VR titles. The developer clarified that the studio will continue to support PC, as “revenue is revenue” at the end of the day. However, at this point, the efforts from the studio are very much funded by standalone and console software sales rather than the other way around.
Furthermore, the developer mentioned that the PC versions of Traunt Pixel’s games tend to have added content and enhancements over the other versions, but those additions don’t ever seem to go over quite as well as they do on console. According to them, the expectation is generally that PC ports have to have a greater amount of content and be cheaper. They added that, in their anecdotal view, PC ports also require greater dedication of resources from a technical support perspective, which further offsets the sales benefit. Despite all this, they remained firm that PC is a place to see premium performance and unique experiences, and clarified that standalone and console VR would not exist without it.
