PlayStation VR: Expensive or cheap?

PlayStation VR will cost 400 euros. A figure that we had been wanting to know for a long time, that had already been rumored in all that tidal wave of speculation, leaks and reservation websites that ventured to put a price on the basis of “you-know-what”, there were even those who spoke of 1,000 euros and many put their hands on their heads. That awful!

But no, in the end it is 399.99 euros to be exact, although to be exact if you do not have the PlayStation Camera you will have to add another 59.99 euros to the sum, and if you do not have a pair of PS Move controllers then the joke is on. It goes beyond 500 euros, luckily Sony announced a pack with the complete kit for €499.99, a reasonable price as far as possible.

To decide if it is expensive or cheap I always ask myself the same question: Will I take advantage of it? Therein lies the big doubt about the device, its future, the future of virtual reality in general, a technology that is not new but that has decided, in 2016 and after a long time, to come out of the closet.

But I will focus on the price. Paying 400 euros for an input device is expensive, and a lot. Accustomed to 60 euros for a controller or microphones, 100-120 for a guitar, sometimes we have even gone out of our way and bought a music band for 150 euros, but 400? That’s more than the PlayStation 4 itself costs! Obviously the comparison with these devices is very unfair, since PSVR is much more and its technology requires a much greater investment.

For what it offers… it’s even cheap!

If we look at the rest of the virtual reality proposals, 400 euros seems cheap. HTC Vive will cost 799.99 euros and Oculus Rift 699.99. Sony has been the last to show its cards and has offered a much more affordable price in comparison. I am not going to go into the technology of the three, each has their own and Sony has chosen to offer something more affordable although technologically inferior.

Another argument in favor of determining that it is cheap is the experience that PlayStation VR offers. It’s hard to put into words, just as it was to explain the glasses-free 3D effect of the Nintendo 3DS, simply put. you have to try it. The sensation of immersion offered by the virtual reality headset is so superior that it has little to do with being in front of a three-dimensional television and seeing some objects “come out” of the screen. With VR you are inside the screen, inside the game, the possibilities that technology has in all types of games are brutal and surely many agree that for half a dozen good games that know how to take advantage of it, it would be worth the purchase. I will not disprove them.

Nor should we lose sight of the fact that PSVR It will not only serve to enjoy all the games that are developed especially for the device, any title in the PS4 catalog can be enjoyed in Cinematic Mode, as well as movies, television series, even 360-degree photographs and virtual experiences that different film studios are already preparing for leave us with our mouths open.

You also have to put into value what we are going to buy. We are used to spending more than 100 euros (even 150) on special editions with figures, art books and some exclusive missions, most of these figures are impressive and adorn our shelves with a lot of style, but here we are talking about a device that we are going to use, and a lot, for a long time (we hope). There are people who renew their cell phones every 2 years and their television every 4-5 years and the prices they pay for this are in many cases higher than 400 euros. With VR we can enjoy all those games and audiovisual content created especially for the headset and the experience it provides. Not having PSVR is giving up that entire catalog, not to mention the envy – insane – that all those who have it and speak wonders of will give us.

But how is it going to cost more than the console itself?

The problem with virtual reality is the one that most devices that come out on consoles already established in the market have, the PlayStation 4 console park is already quite large because at the moment Sony is obtaining very high sales figures that are allowing it to distance itself from its competitors, but not everyone who has a PS4 is going to buy PlayStation VR, and Depending on the sales of the device, the major studios will support it or not. releasing better or worse games, or simply stopping making them.

Although it is true that reservations in the first days are flying and it gives the sensation of becoming an absolute success, when it comes to so much money one has to be cautious to know if virtual reality is going to really succeed or if it is going to remain a success. fleeting that was soon forgotten.

During these days I have asked myself, a lot, why the quality of the games that will come to VR and their price, We must not forget that in addition to spending 400 euros, you will then have to feed the creature with titles, unless you want an expensive paperweight. Virtual reality is quite an experience and the number of games that can be released to take advantage of it is large, but many of these experiences can be limited in terms of playability, good ideas but short on content, which should equate to a low price as well. Will it really be like this?

I imagine that Few people are going to be willing to spend 400 euros on a peripheral, I visualize all those parents who have just bought the PS4 for their children after weeks, months even insisting, now seeing how they are asked to spend even more than what the console cost them for a helmet “to see the games better.” The concept is difficult to explain and, as I said before, difficult to value if it is not tested. Besides, This 2016 we are going to have a number of important quality titles: Uncharted 4, Gran Turismo Sport, Horizon: Zero Dawn, Last Guardian, Final Fantasy XV, Battlefield 5, FIFA 17, Tekken 7, Mafia III… I don’t know about you, but if I spend 400 euros on VR I still don’t know where to get money for so much gambling.

And then there is also the technology itself. Exists a lot of competition and surely over time more guests will arrive at this party. Oculus and HTC have superior technology helmets, Nintendo and Microsoft, if VR succeeds, could present their own proposals in a few years with the advantage of the best and cheapest time, and what seems cutting-edge now could become obsolete in a couple of years. Furthermore, PlayStation VR is only valid for PS4, another disadvantage compared to Oculus and HTC, which when running on a PC should have greater durability, although it is true that the PS4 is only 3 years old and could well last 3 or 4 more years without problems.

So is it expensive or is it cheap?

If you thought I was going to give you a definitive answer, I’m sorry to say it, but I don’t know. There are reasons to think that it is worth the expense and also excuses not to buy it, in the end it all depends on how much you want to enjoy virtual reality and how full or empty your wallets are.

I personally, I want to be cautious and see if the big companies are really betting, and when I say really I’m talking about investing a lot of money and releasing tripleA games, exclusive weight that really justify the great expense What does the helmet mean?

PlayStation VR will be expensive if in the following months after its release we are already demanding good games and, once the novelty is over, we have the headset in the trunk along with the microphones, the guitars and that whole procession of peripherals of ephemeral success. However, if in two years we continue to be amazed by the latest releases, everyone has jumped on the bandwagon and we can no longer even think about living without virtual reality and its amazing experience, then those 400 euros that cost us so much to spend They will seem like a gift to us.

Let everyone do what they want with their money, there would be more to it.