PlayStation 4 owners itching to experience virtual reality games have a new PlayStation VR bundle to look forward to next month, which includes the necessary PlayStation Camera accessory.
The new bundle, releasing Sept. 1, will be Sony’s “core PS VR bundle moving forward” and consists of the PS VR headset and PS Camera for $399, the same price Sony charged for the headset alone. Previously, the PS Camera was sold separately for $59.99 if buyers did not purchase last year’s $499 launch bundle that packaged the headset, two PS Move controllers, PlayStation VR Worlds and PS Camera together.
With the new bundle coming soon, Sony is also reducing the price of the 2016 launch bundle by $50, resulting in a $449 price tag. Outside its PS VR support, the PS Camera features picture-in-picture video capture for more personal streaming, facial recognition for hands-free logins and voice commands to navigate menus without a controller.
Looking further into the year, PlayStation’s holiday 2017 virtual reality lineup includes enhanced editions of Bethesda’s Doom and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, which had playable demos over the weekend at this year’s QuakeCon. The demand for virtual reality-supported editions, such as Doom VFR and Skyrim VR, results from incompatibility with general PS4 games, although PS VR runs on the PS4 system.
New and prospective PS VR owners have other game-related issues to consider, such as repurchasing newer versions of games they may already own (Skyrim VR being the second version on PS4 and third version on a Sony console), justifying the value of the virtual reality experience (PS VR costs the same as PS4Pro and original PS4, $100 more than PS4 Slim) and the catalog of games (separate game libraries between PS VR and PS4, some exclusive to PS VR).
The new headset and PS Camera bundle, along with a reduced-price PlayStation VR Worlds package, will be available Sept. 1 for $399 and $449 respectively.