14 DAY TRIAL // Games industry analyst Michael Pachter has offered some insight into the Project Morpheus virtual reality headset presented by Sony earlier this month, saying that it's a "bad idea," as the VR market is quite small.
Sony surprised a lot of participants at the Game Developers Conference of 2014 earlier this month when it revealed Project Morpheus, its much anticipated virtual reality headset.
The prototype, which boasts some impressive specs, has garnered a lot of attention and quite a few leaks shortly afterwards mentioning a 2015 release and a price between 250 and 300 USD/EUR.
Now, Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter has talked a bit about the virtual reality plans of Sony and predicted that it won't end up well for the large corporation, as the potential market is quite small.
"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 going to be hard for anybody to make money," he told DualShockers.
Pachter goes so far as to predict that there's going to be a back and forth exchange in the VR market, as people won't buy the headsets because there aren't enough games, and few games will appear because there aren't enough headsets.
"And I don’t think it’s going to 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 going to 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," he added.
Last but not least, Pachter presents the overall picture, saying that startup companies like Oculus can make a profit on a small market, but Sony needs big numbers in order to recover its research and development costs.
"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."
As of yet, however, Sony revealed Project Morpheus as a prototype, so it's unclear how the company will market the virtual reality headset.