Sony's Shuhei Yoshida on the risky business of virtual reality

During a frank "Ask Me Anything" session on Reddit earlier this year , Oculus founder Palmer Luckey revealed the company wouldn't be making any money on its Oculus Rift virtual reality headset.

Addressing consumer concerns just after the Rift's $599 price tag had been revealed, Luckey explained Oculus had decided to "prioritize quality over cost," and cut its losses to give consumers the best possible VR experience.

It's just one example of the risks hardware companies are being forced to take in an attempt to impress consumers and establish virtual reality products on the mass-market.

Sony, another company with a hand in the high-stakes VR game, is preparing to debut its own virtual reality headset later this year, and while PlayStation VR might be a very different beast, Sony Worldwide Studios president, Shuhei Yoshida, has explained the firm's priorities weren't too dissimilar to Luckey's.

"We knew we wanted high quality first, and then our target was around the same price range of a new console launch - specifically, around £399, which was the PS4’s launch price," says Yoshida, speaking to Kotaku.

"We didn’t set out from pricing first because we knew that getting VR right was going to be a big challenge. We had internal technical milestones that we wanted to hit, like resolution and field of view. We knew that if we waited, we could get the right tech."

Price points and tech specs might be what catches the eye of consumers initially, but for Yoshida, the importance of quality content shouldn't be overlooked.

Fortunately, there are plenty of developers chomping at the bit to start building their very own virtual reality worlds, and Sony is hoping to give PSVR owners something to rave about by engaging with devs on their own terms.

"We always start from the ground up with developers: what do you want to do? What idea do you have? And we try to match that, because I believe that is the only way that a great thing can be made," Yoshida continues.

"Nobody ever tells a team to do something and ends up with a great outcome, because making games is so hard - it’s so hard that people really, really have to be passionate about what they are making."

By dedicating so much time to, in Yoshida's own words, "getting VR right", he's convinced Sony won't lose money on PlayStation VR hardware, allowing it to recoup the cost of goods, and, in turn, spend more money on promotion and developer support.

Not losing money, however, and turning a profit are two very different things, and when asked how many PSVR sales Sony will need for its virtual reality gamble to pay off, it seems Yoshida knows as much as the rest of us.

"That’s the hardest thing," he says. "I don’t think anyone in the company knows that."

You can read Kotaku's full interview with Yoshida by clicking right here.