For a long, long time, virtual reality seemed like some far-off fever dream. Headsets like the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive have been in development for so long that some people were worried if they'd ever actually be released.
Thankfully, that's not the case: the first wave of retail virtual reality headsets is just a few weeks away. That being said, while the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive are set for a spring release, Sony has yet to set a specific launch window: the publisher announced that the PlayStation VR would launch sometime in the first half of 2016, but a six-month window is hardly an exact date. With its competition getting ready to hit the market, many assumed that Sony would have given some sort of news by now.
That's not to say that gamers don't have any clues as to when the PlayStation VR will launch: in an interview with Fox News, GameStop CEO Paul Raines claimed that Sony's virtual reality headset will miss its initial release window and instead launch sometime later this fall.
"We will launch the Sony product this fall, and we are in discussion with the other two players ..."
While it's easy to assume that Raines simply misspoke, there is a possibility that Sony could be holding off until this fall. From a business perspective, Sony could be banking on the annual holiday shopping rush, or possibly holding the PlayStation VR back to compete with the rumored release of Nintendo's NX console.
That being said, there's no way of knowing if what Raines said was true or not. Without Sony's official confirmation, there's no telling if the PlayStation VR will launch sooner or later than expected — and while Raines likely has an idea of what his own company is preparing for, there's little chance that he'd know what was going on over at Sony.
At the end of the day, it all comes down to Sony itself: if the publisher decides to announce when the PlayStation VR will launch, then gamers will know for sure one way or the other. While Raines is certainly a more credible source than most, his statement should be taken with a grain of salt.
Either way, expect the PlayStation VR headset to launch sometime later this year.
