Sony To Bring PlayStation VR To Japanese Arcades

Sony plans to bring its PlayStation VR virtual reality headsets to Japanese arcades, according to the Wall Street Journal.

At the moment, the program from Sony looks to be limited in scope. As the Wall Street Journal notes, Sony launched a “location-based entertainment” unit in March. The group will look for arcades and other partners to work alongside and Sony doesn’t plan on opening its own facilities for the PSVR.

Read: Sony Has Sold Almost One Million PlayStation VR Units

For Sony, the plan to bring its PSVR directly to Japanese buyers looks to be an aggressive move. So far, the PSVR has been a relatively strong sales performer for Sony and despite VR being a newer technology, the PSVR is still slated to surpass Sony’s early sales goals. In February, Sony confirmed it had sold 915,000 PSVR units since the headset’s fall launch. Initially, Sony had hoped to break the one million unit mark by April. In Japan, Sony also sold around 50,000 PSVR units as part of a limited Asia rollout.

However, analysts say the PSVR’s limited install base could be a hurdle for developers who want to make games for the platform. While the PSVR has benefited from a decent initial rollout, Sony needs regular titles and features like Resident Evil 7’s VR mode to continue the headset’s momentum. On the developer's end, they’ll also need the audience for the PSVR to ensure that they’re not making games for a device with a limited shelf life.

Read: 50,000 PSVR Headsets Sold In Japan In First Week

Sony also isn’t the only company looking to bring VR directly to buyers. In November, HTC launched its Viveport program to allow HTC Vive games to be licensed for arcades. The moves are intended to make it easier to showcase VR publicly and make higher-end interactive VR technology more accessible to general consumers.