Had my own moment of truth moment before i sold my PSVR last week to pick up the Nintendo Switch. As much as I adored the hardware and considered the financial investment that I put into it (bought PSVR, PRO, and a TON of software), I realized that it just wasn't going to be what i wanted it to be.
Sony made some huge mistakes in PSVR, and, yes, I do think that fixing much of this early would've led home VR down a different road.
First, I should preface that the most awesome experiences that i've had in VR have been: 1. RE7/Dirt Rally, 2. The accounting on Vive, and 3. VTime, a social chat room on Gear VR. 4. Job Simulator
Those four experiences not only made me a believer, but I still think that those are the high points of what the hardware can achieve.
Sony started to worry me during the gaming drought. Their lack of communication about upcoming releases was troubling. However, of greater concern was the lack of titles that should've been on the platform that weren't. Sort of like Xbox one launched without backwards compatibility.
That there was no launch with some type of VR-style PS HOME was very strange. VR is isolating, and the moment people try something with a social element, it changes the experience. I bought VR for the Star Trek game, and Werewolves Within was an amazing proof of concept. However, for Sony to NOT have ANY type of social hub was...curious. Showed lack of faith in the concept.
At home, my physical console just couldn't drum up interest from my wife, friends, or family. I bought it as something that would be cool to get everyone into. My nephew, who is 11 and is a huge gamer, thought it was too weird and didn't like the shark demo AT ALL. Never put the headset on again. My niece, also a huge gamer, thought it was cool and enjoyed Job simulator, but because of college, just didn't have time to play. Lack of time became lack of interest, which became console collecting dust. Finally, my wife, who is NOT a gamer, tried it and became sick INSTANTLY on nearly every experience.
So it was just me. I don't get VR sick. I LOVED RE7, and I was willing to keep the platform to see what would happen until I started seeing what Sony seemed to be interested in putting out. Fairpoint worried me. It was just a gun game. Another freaking gun game.
On a console where No Man's Sky should've been a given in VR, and titles like The Witness (imagine in VR) would really help people start to see the hardware as a new way to experience things, not to mention the lack of any kind of Social hub (like what facebook is doing), the future of PSVR was starting to look a lot less interesting to me.
Combine that with the fact that the only time I could play would be late at night after my wife and 2 year old daughter went to sleep, and playing the console -even though I loved it - started to feel like a chore.
Icing on the cake was when i posted the VR on Craigslist for nearly 150 cheaper than the cheapest used PSVR (I had 2 games, 2 motion controllers, charger, AND camera for 350) and not biters. No biters for nearly a week. That's when I knew that PSVR was dead, or at least time for me to cut it loose before it sank lower.
This article doesn't surprise me. However, i think had Sony delayed the launch another year and allowed things to cook a little longer, this narrative would've gone a very different way.