Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter has criticized Sony’s recently revealed VR headset Project Morpheus, pointing out how it attempted to make an impact with 3D gaming and ultimately failed at that.
In conversation with DualShockers, Pachter stated that, “I think it’s a bad idea for multiple participants to chase it and I think it’s a really bad idea for Sony. I have no problem with the Oculus Rift, that they’re trying it, because they’re a startup and that’s a very small market and if they dominate it that’s great, but if it’s a small market and there are multiple players, it’s gonna be hard for anybody to make money.
“And I don’t think it’s gonna be a big market. It sounds interesting, but I don’t think there will be enough content to justify making the capital investment to create the headset. I think it’s chicken and egg. If there’s no content you’re not gonna buy a virtual reality headset, and if you don’t buy a virtual reality headset, there won’t be any content, because no one will make a dedicated game for a very small audience.”
As for Oculus Rift, though Pachter says VR will be a small market, he’s more upbeat about what Oculus VR is doing and how their efforts will ultimately pan out. “The Oculus Rift guys are making some games themselves, and they hired some pretty impressive people. Sony certainly is capable of doing the same, and if you wanna think about Sony’s success here, remember all the big 3D games and how those did. Nobody cares. So I think it’s just a super super small market.
“I think the Oculus guys are gonna be very happy with a million sales. If they get a million sales, they’re gonna get a ton of money. A million sales is a huge success for Oculus Rift. It’s just a hiccup for Sony.”
As of now, Project Morpheus has no fixed release date but Sony has revealed a number of games for it including The Deep, Castle and Daturna. Oculus Rift’s second dev kit will be out in July.
