Nearly three years after consumer virtual reality became a real thing, the market is still trying to determine whether it’s a growing market niche or a dwindling technological fad. Entering into that debate this week comes Sony, which is now trumpeting 4.2 million PlayStation VR headset sales through March 3 of this year.

While 4.2 million is certainly a big number in and of itself, its actual import depends a lot on what you’re comparing it to. So to put Sony’s latest report in context, we’ve gathered a bevy of relevant comparison numbers for you to peruse in both chart and list form. Use this as a handy reference for your next debate about whether console virtual reality is a “dead end” or not.









130 days: Time since release for PSVR to sell 915,000 headsets (~7K/day) (Source)

Time since release for PSVR to sell 915,000 headsets (~7K/day) (Source) 417 days: Time since release for PSVR to sell 2 million headsets (~4.8K/day) (Source)

Time since release for PSVR to sell 2 million headsets (~4.8K/day) (Source) 673 days: Time since release for PSVR to sell 3 million headsets (~4.5K/day) (Source)

Time since release for PSVR to sell 3 million headsets (~4.5K/day) (Source) 872 days: Time since release for PSVR to sell 4.2 million headsets (~4.8K/day) (Source)

43 days: Time since release for the PS4 to sell 4.2 million units (Source)

Time since release for the PS4 to sell 4.2 million units (Source) 154 days: Time since release for the Xbox One to ship 5 million units (Source)

Time since release for the Xbox One to ship 5 million units (Source) 317 days: Time since release for the Wii U to sell 3.91 million units (Source)

4.08 million: Rough Superdata estimate for PSVR headset sales through the end of 2018

Rough Superdata estimate for PSVR headset sales through the end of 2018 0.99 million: Rough Superdata estimate for Oculus Rift headset sales through the end of 2018

Rough Superdata estimate for Oculus Rift headset sales through the end of 2018 1.3 million: Rough Superdata estimate for HTC Vive headset sales through the end of 2018

Rough Superdata estimate for HTC Vive headset sales through the end of 2018 4 million: Rough Nvidia estimate for total “PC VR” headset sales through the end of 2018

Sources: (1) (2) (3) (4)

4.4%: Rough ratio of PSVR owners to PS4 owners (4.2M / 94.2M) (Source)

Rough ratio of PSVR owners to PS4 owners (4.2M / 94.2M) (Source) 2.16%: Rough ratio of Sega 32X owners to Sega Genesis owners (0.665M / 30.75M; 32X sales through end of 1994) (Sources (1) (2))

Rough ratio of Sega 32X owners to Sega Genesis owners (0.665M / 30.75M; 32X sales through end of 1994) (Sources (1) (2)) 7.2%: Rough ratio of Sega CD owners to Sega Genesis owners (2.24M / 30.75M) (Source)

Rough ratio of Sega CD owners to Sega Genesis owners (2.24M / 30.75M) (Source) 31.5%: Rough ratio of original Kinect owners to Xbox 360 owners (24M / 76M as of Feb. 2013) (Source)

411,488: Estimate of unique Oculus Rift headsets connected to Steam in February 2019.

Estimate of unique Oculus Rift headsets connected to Steam in February 2019. 335,980: Estimate of unique HTC Vive headsets connected to Steam in February 2019.

Estimate of unique HTC Vive headsets connected to Steam in February 2019. 85,012: Estimate of unique Windows Mixed Reality headsets connected to Steam in February 2019.

(Source: RoadToVR analysis of Steam survey results; updates through Feb. 2019 used with permission)