Sony’s Kaz Hirai Explains Why The Company Didn’t Announce PlayStation VR’s Price or Launch Date at CES

Many expected Sony to announce the release date and pricing details of their upcoming virtual reality headset, the PlayStation VR, at the Consumer Electronics Show. But that’s come and gone, and this clearly did not happen. It was discussed and highlighted at the show, but Sony didn’t discuss its launch much. For a product that’s about to launch in a few months, that’s an almost worrying lack of information- why?

Sony’s CEO Kaz Hirai discussed the reasons for not revealing PlayStation VR’s launch details in an interview with AV Watch. According to Hirai, PlayStation VR is a major new product for Sony- it indicates the direction the company is hoping to take in the future, an intersection of innovation and affordability- for the company, it’s clearly a flagship aspirational.

However, it’s also primarily a gaming product- not only that, but CES is an event that is meant to highlight the general direction a company takes each year, too, one that is better for broad overviews that product specific announcements. Hirai said keeping all this in mind, Sony decided to hold off on PlayStation VR announcements until a later event- GDC, E3, or TGS, basically.

I also imagine they wanted Oculus to announce their pricing and launch details first and gauge the response, so they could adjust their plans accordingly.