One thing Sony does which helps it retain its dominance in mind share is its co-branding deals wit major third party games; titles such as Call of Duty, Destiny, Star Wars, and Red Dead are all games that get exclusive co-branding, bundling, and marketing rights with PlayStation, subconsciously driving home the association between them and the PS4 for the larger market.
However, Lewis Ward, IDC’s Research Director, Gaming and VR/AR, doesn’t feel like this is actually a big factor that informs customer purchases. Speaking to GamingBolt exclusively, Ward said, “This is a way of using the word “exclusive” without having to actually pony up all the dough to get a full exclusive game. I think most players see through this, and I don’t think it’s a big factor in platform buying decisions.”
Ward also said that he sees a future for the PSVR- unlike, say, the PS Move, it won’t just be abandoned by Sony, but will become a long term platform, albeit one that is more of a slow burn.
“It’ll be a slow burn,” he said. “I really want to play Doom in VR just to see if it’s great – or has me puking in the first hour. I think it’ll be a few years before PS VR hits a 10% attach rate to PS4 consoles in North America, but I think this tech will get better in rev 2 and the content will get better and more varied, and so Sony will stick with it through the end of the PS4 lifecycle at least.”
The PSVR is definitely doing well enough for itself on the market, especially thanks to Sony’s aggressive price drops and bundling strategy, so I hope they stick with it- especially now that full AAA experiences like Skyrim and Resident Evil have started to come to it.
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