Sony Corp. is entering a brand new field of virtual reality devices as a part of its attempt to find a way to stand out from its rivals in the field of video games.
The President of Sony Worldwide Studios – Shuhei Yoshida officially revealed a prototype of a virtual-reality headset called Project Morpheus at the annual Games Developers Conference in San Francisco on Tuesday. Mr. Yoshida also explained that the headset will be available for game creators to try it out. The Financial Times cited his statement: “VR has been a dream of many game creators ever since the computer game was created. Many of us at PlayStation have dreamed about VR and what it could mean to the games we create.”
The device will be compatible with the new PlayStation 4 console of the Sony Corp. The company also revealed that it had been working on the VR technology for more than three years now and the headset has a screen that covers the players eyes in order to create a virtual reality experience with no analogue.
As reported by the Wall Street Journal, Mr. Yoshida said: “Nothing elevates the level of immersion more than VR. Many of us in PlayStation have dreamed of VR and what it can mean to the games we create.” The demonstrations on show at the Games Developers Conference are still yet to come.
Mr. Yoshida also explained that the prototype presented by the company is not final yet. His statement was cited by the Financial Times: “We will continue to work on this to improve, but we believe it’s a good representation of how PlayStation will deliver VR. We will continue to improve this prototype by getting direct feedback from you developers.”
The company categorically refused to reveal when it plans to launch the new headset device. It also declined to disclose any details on the future price of the device. The company was not inclined to share any of the final specifications of the new product.
Sony Corp. rose by 0.64% in Tokyo to close the session at 1 731 yen, marking a one-year change of +4.21%. The company has a market value of 1.79 trillion yen. According to the Financial Times, the 20 analysts offering 12-month price targets for Sony Corp. have a median target of 2 040 yen, with a high estimate of 2 800 yen and a low estimate of 1 400 yen. The median estimate represents a 18.60% increase from the previous close of 1 720 yen.