Quarterly sales of virtual reality helmets exceeded 1 million devices for the first time. Such a number of VR headsets were implemented in the third quarter of 2017.
86% of this volume was accounted for by the three largest companies in the consumer VR market. During the 3rd quarter, Sony sold 490 thousand headsets, Oculus − 210 thousand and HTC – 160 thousand virtual helmets.
Analytical firm Canalys reports that the driver of sales of virtual reality headsets was a reduction in the price of the Oculus Rift system from $599 to $399.
According to experts, this has set a new standard for the price of a VR headset, and next year Oculus may lower this bar even lower by releasing a new product Oculus Go.
Another driver is the sale of PlayStation VR bundles bundled with VR versions of Skyrim, Doom, Gran Tourismo and other popular titles.
Next year, Microsoft will join the “big three” of the VR market with its mixed reality devices combining the capabilities of AR and VR technologies.
Recall that sales of virtual reality headsets in the 3rd quarter of 2017 from Sony and Oculus approached the annual figures for 2016. For comparison, for the whole of last year Sony sold 745 thousand PSVR sets, and Oculus − 243 thousand Rift helmets.
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