Analyst predicts PSVR2 could ship as early as April 2022

(Image credit: Sony PlayStation)

Update, January 6: PSVR2 shipments may begin in Q2 2022 according to reputable Apple and VR analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.

As hardware analyst Brad Lynch spotted, Chinese site Nweon recently published a collection of predictions featuring Kuo's input. A machine translation of the report shows that Kuo believes the PSVR2 headset "will start shipping in Q2 of 2022," which would put Sony's next VR platform roughly three to six months away.

The second quarter of the year starts in April and ends in June, so if PSVR2 does indeed ship sometime during this window, the new headset could be in player hands as early as this spring, or more conservatively, early summer.

This report comes on the heels of the official reveal of PSVR2. Sony notably didn't share a release date for the PS5's VR platform, but it did outline the full specs of the headset and announce Horizon: Call of the Mountain, which will spearhead PSVR2's early titles.

Yesterday on January 3, a new video from YouTube channel PSVR Without Parole revealed that a user on Chinese forum site xueqiu.com claimed a Chinese manufacturer is helping a Japanese developer make VR headsets, as well as more units of their consoles. As PlayStation is the only major Japanese developer which sells both consoles and VR headsets, it's practically a given that the company referenced here is Sony.

That points to the new-gen PlayStation VR headset entering mass production relatively soon, according to the new YouTube video. As the channel rightly points out, it's been a fair while since we've heard any concrete information about the new VR headset from Sony, and even longer since the headset was first unveiled near the beginning of last year.

While the YouTube channel speculates that the PSVR PS5 might have been originally slated to launch late last year in 2021, this isn't the case, as Sony was clear about the new-gen headset not launching in 2021 when it was first revealed. The same information was true as is now: the PSVR PS5 headset is either launching later this year in 2022, or further on the horizon.

It was actually last year in March 2021 when Sony last shared information about the new headset. At the time, the developer revealed the brand new controllers for the new-gen headset, stating that they would boast haptic feedback and adaptive triggers, two technological capabilities you can currently wield on the PS5's DualSense controller.