Don't panic: There's a version of the PlayStation 4 VR headset that has everything you need
When the PlayStation 4 VR headset launches this October, it'll cost $400. That's $50 more than the cost of a PlayStation 4 console - required to power the headset.
And that's not all: you'll need a PlayStation 4 Camera as well, which costs another $60, for PlayStation VR to function. Really!
Sony revealed as much during a presentation on Tuesday afternoon in San Francisco during the annual Game Developers Conference.
And to us here in attendance, that seemed a little crazy: buy a $400 VR headset peripheral for the PlayStation 4, then you're forced to spend another $60 just to make it work? Huh?
Sony, thankfully, has a solution.
In an interview with PlayStation's worldwide head of studios Shuhei Yoshida, he told Tech Insider that there will be a bundle in North America that comes with a PlayStation Camera and a PlayStation Move motion controller.
"There will be a bundle in the SCEA region [North America] with Move and a Camera," a rep sitting in on the interview told Tech Insider (after much cajoling from Yoshida himself). Sadly, the rep wasn't able to give a price for the PlayStation VR bundle that includes the (required) PlayStation Camera and (not required, but important) PlayStation Move controller.
So, why not just include a PlayStation Camera in every PlayStation VR headset sold? There's a (somewhat) reasonable answer to that: Plenty of folks already own a PlayStation Camera, apparently.
"We didn't put it in because many people already own it," Yoshida told us. Oh? How many people? "A large enough number of people," Yoshida said with a smile. He can't actually divulge numbers, nor could he offer a percentage - there are 36 million (or so) PlayStation 4s out in the wild. I asked if it was over 50% of owners; again, he couldn't offer a specific number.
Fair enough, but clearly Yoshida respects that some folks won't own a PlayStation Camera and will want a wholecloth solution to buying a VR headset for their PlayStation 4. Sony has another seven months or so to figure all this stuff out, so here's hoping it does.