Sony has been hitting landmark achievements with their hardware sales left, right, and centre. On the back of the announcements that the PS4 has now shipped 82.2 million units worldwide, and that all PlayStation consoles and hardware have collectively sold over 525 million units to date, comes another announcement- PlayStation VR has sold through more than 3 million units.

Sony made the announcement on the Official PlayStation Blog, where they also noted that total software sales for PS VR stand at 21.9 million “games and experiences”, of which, Sony notes, there are now almost 340. They also released a list of the ten most played games on their VR system, which includes several big hitters. Skyrim VR tops the list, unsurprisingly, while others such as Resident Evil 7 VR, Batman: Arkham VR, and Superhot VR also feature. You can take a look at the top 10 most played PS VR games at the bottom of the post.

Meanwhile, Sony have also announced that to celebrate this milestone, several PS VR titles will be going on sale on the PlayStation Store. Upcoming titles such as Bow to Blood and Torn receive 20 per cent discounts on pre-orders, while titles such as Pixel Gear and Smashbox Arena are being sold at 40 per cent off, though if you’re a PS Plus member, that discount goes up to 60 per cent. You can get a comprehensive list of all the games that are part of this discount on the PlayStation Store.

Meanwhile, Sony also announced launch dates for two more upcoming PS VR titles, namely Creed: Rise to Glory, which is based on the film Creed and launches on September 25th, and sci-fi first person shooter Evasion, which launches on October 9. Both these games are also available for pre-order, which is unusual, because PS VR games don’t usually get pre-order availability.

Top 10 most played PS VR games:

1. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR
2. PlayStation VR Worlds
3. Rec Room
4. Resident Evil 7 biohazard
5. The Playroom VR
6. Job Simulator
7. Until Dawn: Rush of Blood
8. Batman: Arkham VR
9. Farpoint
10. Superhot VR

Bethesda is one of the few third parties jumping headfirst to give major support to new technologies and platforms. For instance, they have been a leading third party supporter of Nintendo’s Switch, and they have also led the charge on supporting the nascent VR format.

We already know that their Nintendo Switch gambles have paid off, and that their Switch games have done well for them, but what about VR? How have their VR projects fared? According to Bethesda’s VP Pete Hines, they’ve done very well.

“We were really pleased with how the three of those turned out on their various platforms,” said Hines in an interview with Upload VR. “We’re aware of all the, ‘Well, what else is Skyrim coming out on?’ jokes, but that version [VR] was a really good version of that game. DOOM VFR, Fallout 4 VR, we’re just really pleased with how all of those performed and were received. We’re going to continue to look at VR like we do at all platforms in terms of what’s a good fit for that platform and seeing what we’ve got and can it work.”

“They’ve done really well,” Hines continued. “Skyrim rocketed right to the top on PSVR and stayed there, when we released Fallout 4 VR on Steam it shot to the top and stayed there. When we released Skyrim VR on PC it did too, DOOM VFR has done really well. When it comes to any install base more is always better, but yeah, they did well.”

This is good to hear- as I said, Bethesda is one of the few third parties who have actually taken supporting VR seriously, pushing actual meaningful and substantial AAA content to the format rather than just bite sized “experiences” or tech demos- so it’s good to see that their gambles are paying off.

The next of the many Bethesda VR projects to come to PC gamers, Skyrim VR once again transports players to the vast open world and puts them right in the shoes of the Dovakin, with all the base game content as well as the expansions. This marks the seventh unique time that Skyrim has been released.

Available now for Steam users with an HTC Vive for a humble $59.99, Skyrim VR follows on from the releases of DOOM VFR and Fallout 4 VR on PC. While the system requirements for Skyrim VR aren’t quite as demanding as those of DOOM and Fallout, let’s be honest, if you’ve got the HTC Vive, you’re probably not worried about system requirements anyway.

A full rundown of the requirements is just below, but users should have at minimum an NVIDIA GeForce 1070, AMD RX Vega 56 GPU, an i7-4790 processor and 8GB of RAM for the best experience once again getting lost in the world of Skyrim.

MINIMUM:

• OS: Windows 7/8.1/10 (64-bit versions)
• Processor: Intel Core i5-6600K or AMD Ryzen 5 1400 or better
• Memory: 8 GB RAM
• Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 970/AMD RX 480 8GB or better
• Storage: 15 GB available space

RECOMMENDED:

• OS: Windows 10 (64-bit)
• Processor: Intel Core i7-4790 or AMD Ryzen 5 1500X
• Memory: 8 GB RAM
• Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 8GB/AMD RX Vega 56 8GB
• Storage: 15 GB available space

One of the hardest questions for the future of VR gaming is how to move around without triggering some pretty harsh protests from the player’s inner ear, and causing a very different kind of projectile than a Fus Ro Dah.

Both teleportation and snap turning have been options found to reduce the kind of discomfort that can be caused by our internal balance systems fighting against the very point of immersion creating VR tech, but fans are currently screaming for smooth turning in Skyrim VR, something Bethesda has promised to look into.

One member of the development team, known only by the username ‘Jurassica’ posted on the Bethesda Forums, thanking the community for the feedback, revealed that they would look into adding the feature as another option for players. There is no current timeline for the inclusion, but in the meantime if you dive into the menus you can find numerous comfort options for the game, including click turning.

While many will cry themselves hoarse over the directions Bethesda has taken over the past few years, whether it’s re-releasing The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim for the Nintendo Switch or bringing Fallout 4, Skyrim and DOOM into virtual reality, such complaints won’t affect how the company does things.

Bethesda PR and marketing in-charge Pete Hines said that the publisher is aware of its fanbase and all the criticisms and complaints that come with it. However, he asserted to GamesRadar that these wouldn’t define what Bethesda does.

“We’re aware of it, but we’re not going to let it define what we do. Ultimately, we’re going to try and do the things that we think are the best for the games that we’re making, because that’s, honestly, all I can really control.”

Hines recalls speaking to Todd Howard, director of Fallout 4 and Skyrim, several years ago at E3. “I went to Todd a couple of E3s ago and said ‘everybody’s going to ask us about The Elder Scrolls 6. You have to help me, you have to help me come out and say what the studio’s path is, and when The Elder Scrolls 6 is coming, to try and manage expectations’.”

He then stated that even as fans want The Elder Scrolls 6 and don’t like having Skyrim VR or DOOM VFR, the development teams at Bethesda “aren’t just a vending machine where you press for the soda and they just go back and forth – they want to be able to stretch their legs creatively, or try a new idea, or do something different and not just fall into the same pattern.”

Using Guerrilla Games’ Horizon: Zero Dawn as an example, Hines noted that, “I think you see a lot of developers do that, and quite honestly, if we didn’t have folks break from it then you don’t get Horizon Zero Dawn. Like, how unbelievable is that game? And if [Guerrilla] just stayed on that path for what they were known for, you’d never get that game. I think that’s true of a lot of studios, right? You don’t get The Last of Us if [Naughty Dog] just kept churning out Uncharted games.”

Of course, there are various other projects that Bethesda has in the works that we’re not aware of and probably won’t find out about until they’re ready. But given how Fallout 4 launched in 2015 and Skyrim first launched in 2011, it’s obvious that fans will be craving what’s next, especially given the advancements that other open world developers seem to be making.

What are your thoughts on Hines’ views though? Let us know in the comments below.

Bethesda Softworks has finally dated the VR adaptations of games showcased at E3 2017, namely The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim VR, Fallout 4 VR and DOOM VR.

Skyrim VR will release first on November 17th for PlayStation VR. It will head to HTC in 2018 though. DOOM VR can be experienced on the Vive and PlayStation VR on December 1st. Finally, Fallout 4 VR will be available for the Vive on December 12th. Sadly, it doesn’t seem to be heading to other VR platforms just yet.

Content-wise, all three games are identical to their base games with different movement options (the ability to teleport instead of walking, for example) and support for motion controls.

More information and gameplay from each title should emerge out of QuakeCon which takes place on August 24th to 27th. It will be interesting to see what other big announcements Bethesda and id Software make, especially with Quake Champions recently heading to Steam Early Access.