Sony’s PSVR2 was released on 22 February 2023 Credit: Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Sony has reportedly paused production of its PSVR2 headset until it sells a backlog of unsold units, calling into question the viability of the virtual reality (VR) headset market.

Sony’s PSVR2 has reportedly seen its sales decline since launch, possibly acting as a catalyst for the company’s decision to shut down its VR-focused division as part of a broader round of layoffs. 

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Sony is one of the world’s leading VR vendors but has faced the challenge of attracting enough developers to create content for it, similar to Meta’s Quest VR headset and Apple’s new Vision Pro. 

Despite the optimism of VR headset makers, VR gaming has remained a small part of the total video games market in terms of both unit sales and revenues. 

In GlobalData’s report, Thematic Research: Gaming, the research and analysis company stated that the VR games industry caters to a niche audience, and hardcore VR gaming is yet to emerge. 

Beat Saber, arguably the most popular VR game, sold over four million copies between May 2018 and February 2021. 

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In the same period, PUBG Mobile, a mobile phone game, exceeded one billion downloads.

Mobile gaming is bigger than the console and PC gaming markets combined. Worth $124bn in 2023, mobile gaming revenue will grow to $195bn by 2030, according to GlobalData forecasts.

Despite the VR industry arguably not breaking into the mainstream yet, VR deals show that it is still attracting significant investment.

The value of VR deals significantly increased in 2023, according to GlobalData's deal database. 

In 2023, the global value of VR deals totalled $18.3bn. This was a significant increase over 2022, which saw deals total $8.4bn.