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It’s widely thought that PSVR 2, Sony’s next-gen VR headset for PlayStation 5, is expected to release sometime the last half of 2022, which would position it as a pretty tempting gift for this holiday season. Now, a report from noted PSVR leaker ‘PSVR Without Parole‘ alleges the headset will launch instead in early 2023.

YouTuber ‘PSVR Without Parole’ is known for having accurately leaked some of PSVR 2’s specs ahead of the official announce by Sony.

Citing what the channel calls “credible sources,” PSVR Without Parole now maintains Sony may launch PSVR 2 sometime in Q1 2023, which is owed to the fact that PS5 is still (and will continue to be) very hard to come by.

We haven’t independently confirmed these claims, so we’re suggesting our readers to take it with a grain of salt.

As noted by PSVR Without Parole, if Sony wants to maximize its PSVR 2 install base it needs to get PS5 into more hands.

Earlier this month, Sony revealed that it had sold 17.3 million PS5 consoles up until the end of 2021. Despite high demand, the ongoing chip shortage caused by the recent global manufacturing slowdown has seen the company readjust its 2022 sales forecasts from 14.8m units down to 11.5m units.

Provided it hits the top end of that forecast, it would mean around 32 million PS5 consoles will be in the wild by the end of 2022.

To put that figure into perspective: when Sony launched PSVR in October 2016 it had already sold around 40 million PS4 consoles worldwide.

It’s interesting to see Sony adopt the slow-drip method of releasing info on PSVR 2. The company first revealed PSVR 2’s Sense controllers back in March 2021. Nearly a year later, at CES 2022 Sony finally tossed out specs for the headset, but no price or release date.

Just last week Sony revealed PSVR 2’s design, showing off updated Sense controllers and the headset itself, which physically tethers to PS5 via a cable.

Again, we’re still waiting on price, release, launch titles… a lot of room for more bit-by-bit info for Sony to cover if its hoping to build more hype proceeding a release date that would realistically only be delayed by a few months.