With the recent PlayStation VR features trailer highlighting a first half of 2016 release window, and Sony Worldwide Studios President Shuhei Yoshida saying it was “too early” to narrow down the exact price and release date, many people were looking ahead to PlayStation Experience in December for more virtual reality details.
In an interview with Digital Spy at Paris Games Week though, Yoshida revealed that we won’t know the release date of PlayStation VR until next year:
We don’t know the launch date or the launch titles yet – [Rebellion is] probably wrong [about Battlezone being a launch title], but maybe. Another announcement I saw was Mike Bithell said that the Volume VR version is going to be the launch title. Of course he doesn’t know because we don’t know either. We’ll know that next year. But it’s great that almost every week we see some new announcement, it’s hard to keep track of what’s going on in the VR world now.
Asked about whether Sony has decided a price and release date for PlayStation VR internally, Yoshida replied, “We have an idea, but there are things we want to make sure. It’s similar to any platform launch. So as far as hardware development is concerned, it’s going great in terms of timing, everything going well.”
Because hardware development is going so well, the people working hard now are the system software developers, who are testing the operating system and functionality between PSVR and PS4. With all that still in development, it’s why Sony hasn’t shown the “user interface or other functionality other than VR gaming yet, that is to come.”
Yoshida then explained that PlayStation VR won’t be priced so they can make a profit:
We are bringing a console mentality and also making developers test it fully before using their content. We tend to price hardware not to make money from it but to get as many install base so that content can be sold. This is the same kind of thinking in the way we are approaching PlayStation VR.
As for Rigs Mechanized Combat League, one of the most anticipated PlayStation VR games, Shuhei says Guerrilla hasn’t set a launch date. He adds, “We haven’t even decided the final volume of content, whether we release it on physical disc or download only. These kind of things need to happen… soon.”
[Source: Digital Spy]
