Dan Pearson Monday 21st March 2016 Share this article Share

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A new exclusive survey question commissioned by GamesIndustry.biz has indicated that console gamers across Europe are more interested in investing in VR technology than their PC counterparts, with 63 per cent of console players indicating interest in VR, compared to just 51 per cent of PC gamers. When that category was restricted to PS4 and Xbox One gamers the percentage of interested players rose to 72 per cent.

Interestingly, the higher interest amongst console gamers might not be explained by the perception that VR technology will be cheaper on their platforms: the question asked explicitly asks respondents to ignore pricing.

"New 'virtual reality' technology will soon be available, allowing you to experience more immersive entertainment at home," the question read. "Wearing a special headset linked to devices such as computers or games consoles, you will be able to move around within virtual three dimensional environments and see and hear as if you were actually there. This could include playing video games, as well as interacting with other content (such as films or simulated environments). Assuming the price was acceptable to you, how interested would you be in having this type of 'virtual reality' technology at home?"

Platform Very interested Somewhat interested Not very interested Not at all interested Don't know Net interested Net not-interested Overall (10,832 answers) 11% 24% 23% 35% 6% 35% 58% All gamers (8317 answers) 17% 32% 23% 21% 6% 49% 45% Console gamers (5427 answers) 27% 37% 18% 11% 7% 63% 29% PS4/Xbox One gamers (2056 answers) 37% 35% 13% 8% 7% 72% 21% Smartphone/tablet gamers (6267 answers) 22% 33% 22% 17% 5% 56% 39% PC Gamers (6147 answers) 18% 33% 22% 21% 6% 51% 43%

The results will be welcome news for Sony, which revealed pricing and dates for PSVR at GDC last week, with an October shelf date putting a commercial release at the back of the pack behind Rift's March 28 and Vive's April 5, but well ahead of the two on prices. These details were not publicly known at the time of the survey.

All answers came from France, Spain, Germany and the UK. The question formed a part of a larger, regular survey from Ipsos designed to track purchasing intent.