Before E3 2015 kicked off in earnest, many analysts predicted that the event would open up a new frontier for virtual reality, with first-party developers unveiling in-development projects and truly engineering a sense of excitement. As it turns out, the trade show didn’t place VR front and center so much as it only hinted at what’s to come, and that was an approach evidenced by Sony.
During its show-stopping presser, the company dedicated a small portion of the showcase to its upcoming Project Morpheus headset. With nary a mention of price or release date, the reception was understandably mooted. As a matter of fact, Sony itself is still unsure about an actual launch date for the device beyond a vague 2016 window, according to Worldwide Studios President Shuhei Yoshida. Here’s what the loveable executive had to share in an interview with GameSpot.
When we spend more than two minutes on anything other than core gamers games, [people] hate it. The hardware is on schedule. Lots of games are being created. Some we are showing will hit the launch date that we haven’t decided as of yet. So it’s going really well.
While Yoshida assures fans that development is trucking along nicely, the fact that Sony remains mum on a potential release date suggests that the company may be weighing up the competition before locking down a date. Currently, Oculus Rift, buoyed by the support of Microsoft, is due in the early part of 2016, while Valve’s Vive device still has nothing set in stone. There’s also the issue of pricing, with neither of the three main players revealing anything official as of yet.
Tell us, are you surprised that Sony is remaining cautious about Project Morpheus? Or is this indicative of the systemic hurdles of introducing a new piece of tech? Let us know your thoughts below.