Sony takes a massive lead in VR charge, TrendForce claims

A market analysis firm has put Sony firmly at the top of the virtual reality market, suggesting the company has shipped more hardware this year than its two nearest competitors put together.

While still tiny compared to the mainstream gaming market, virtual reality is undeniably growing: Despite some shaky starts for Facebook-owned Oculus VR and HTC's Vive arm, interest is growing - and with it, sales of the headset hardware required to get involved. Market-watcher TrendForce, though, has been crunching the numbers and it unsurprisingly appears that price is most definitely king: Despite having launched considerably later than its competitors, the PlayStation 4-compatible PlayStation VR - formerly known as Project Morpheus - is estimated to have sold half as much again as its two PC-based competitors combined.

According to estimates compiled by TrendForce analysts, Sony will end this year having shipped around 1.5 million PlayStation VR headsets; Oculus VR and HTC, meanwhile, are projected to end the year on 650,000 and 460,000 shipments respectively. For the next year, TrendForce is predicting a near-doubling of shipments: Sony is tipped to ship 2.5 million PSVRs, while Oculus and HTC may hit 1.2 million and 600,000 respectively, suggesting TrendForce has picked Oculus as the clear winner in the battle for the PC VR market.

Demand, though, is currently outstripping supply. 'Shipments of PS VR, Oculus Rift and HTC Vive have all being [sic] constrained by low production yields and shortages of key components,' claimed Jason Tsai, wearable device analyst at TrendForce, in his analysis. 'Generally speaking, the market supply of VR devices will remain tight until 2018.'

TrendForce's full analysis can be found on the official website.