A man plays a game using a Playstation VR headset developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC. (Photo : Joseph Okpako/Getty Images)
Sales of Sony's PlayStation VR surged in China, driven by console gamers seeking new experiences from virtual reality (VR) devices, with pre-order volume topping all Asian countries, China Daily reported.
"For the first time, the shipping date in China was the same as some of the leading markets around the globe, since the country's VR market has high potential for Sony," Hiroyuki Oda of Sony Interactive Entertainment Japan/Asia said in an event held in Beijing.
Hiroyuki sad that the pre-order volume of PS VR in China leads all other Asian countries.
In late July, each VR set cost 2,999 yuan ($450), which was available for pre-order at both online channels as well as 22 of Sony's physical shops across the country.
Sony said that within three days two rounds of pre-order were sold to console gamers and offline distributors.
During the event, a group of early adopters were invited by the company and they received new PS VR on site.
Aside from the new products, the company also unveiled 12 VR games that can be downloaded free in China, in which four of them were developed by Chinese teams.
Analysts see that the global shipments volume will reach 2 million units by the end of the year if the sales continue on the rate of orders, adding that Sony's main source of profits come from the sales of VR-ready games, rather than hardware.
Sony first launched their VR device in March 2014, codenamed Project Morpheus, during the U.S.-based Game Developers Conference. A new PS4 gaming console, PS Slim, was also introduced during the event.
A new console is set to be shipped on Nov. 11, during the country's online shopping carnival. It will come
with 500 GB and 1 TB versions, with prices set at 2,199 yuan and 2,399 yuan, respectively. The new PS is lighter and more energy efficient.
Compared with the previous generation, the weight and power consumption of the new PS has been sharply reduced.
VR devices are categorized by VR markets into three, according to consulting company International Data Corp (IDC). Screenless devices use the screens of some smartphones while tethered Head-Mounted Displays (HMDs) that utilize an existing computing device such as a game console, a PC, or even a smartphone to view the display on a head-worn set. On the other hand, the standalone HMDs integrate processing with the head-worn display itself.
Several Chinese companies are working to make VR part of people's lives, the latest research released by China Electronics Standardization Institute and Xinhua News Agency, showed. According to the research, the country's VR market is expected to reach more than 5 billion yuan this year, from last year's worth of 1.54 billion yuan ($236 million).
IDC is also expecting Sony, Samsung, HTC, and Oculus to earn revenues from hardware, which could amount to nearly $2.3 billion annually this year.
