Sony boasts of 4.2 million PSVR sales

Sony's attempt at breaking into the world of virtual reality has been a stellar success, with the company announcing that it has sold more then 4.2 million headsets since its launch in 2016.

Launched at an aggressive price point of £349.99 - plus the cost of a PlayStation Camera, for PlayStation 4 console owners who didn't already have one - Sony's PlayStation VR (PSVR) headset was something of a gamble. While the PlayStation 4 is an impressive games console, it lacks the computational punch of a high-end gaming rig - even in its upgraded PS4 Pro, formerly known as the PS4 Neo, form. Sony's gamble quickly paid off, however: By February 2017, just four months after launch, the company had sold nearly a million units and was having difficulty meeting demand for the hardware.

Now, it seems that Sony has a few million more reasons to celebrate. 'We're also very excited to reveal that we have officially sold-through more than 4.2 million PS VR systems worldwide as of March 3, 2019,' claims Sony's Sid Shuman in a blog post detailing upcoming games for the platform. 'We'd like to thank our fans for the amazing support for helping us achieve the milestone.'

In supply chain terminology, 'sold through' refers to stock that has ended up in the customer's hands - distinct from the more general 'sold' or 'shipped' which can refer to stock both sold through to end users and stock shipped from the manufacturer but still sitting in a third-party warehouse or on the shelves of a high-street shop.

Estimates from Statista suggest that Sony enjoys a majority share of the virtual reality market, with Facebook-owned Oculus VR in second place and HTC's Vive subsidiary in a distant third.

Details on the upcoming PlayStation VR games confirmed by Sony - including No Man's Sky Beyond, an upgrade to No Man's Sky which adds virtual reality support - can be found on the official blog.