Analysts lower sales expectations for VR

The analysts from SuperData (Nielsen) have lowered their sales expectations for the VR/AR sector in 2020 from the original USD 7.7 billion to USD 6.3 billion, despite the massive success of "Half-Life: Alyx".

The lowering of the forecast is due to the coronavirus and the associated production losses: "The impact of COVID-19 has been felt across the entire industry, even though certain sectors will already see an upturn in the second half of this year."

He added: "Quarterly sales are often lower after the Christmas period, but this year's decline was exacerbated by a lack of supply. Products that performed particularly well during the festive season sold out as COVID-19 shut down factories and prevented new devices from being manufactured. For example, Valve Index sales fell from 103,000 in the fourth quarter to just 33,000 in the first quarter."

However, the outlook is positive, especially as people are increasingly looking for activities to experience at home. "As declining sales are due to a lack of supply rather than demand, shipments of many headsets are poised to recover as supply chains return to normal," the SuperData report said.

Specifically on "Half-Life: Alyx", the analysts say: "The 860,000 figure includes direct sales of the PC title (which generated $40.7 million in revenue) and copies bundled with devices such as Valve Index. Sales figures would likely have been higher if several major VR headsets had not sold out for much of the quarter."

Source: SuperData