Tekken 7, Guilty Gear, and Auto Chess join PlayStation Tournaments Open Series

By Andrew Zucosky June 24, 2021

Tekken 7, Guilty Gear Strive, and Auto Chess will join Sony’s PlayStation Tournaments program. All three titles will be added to the Summer Win-a-thon, which starts in July and ends in August. Participating players will have a chance to win prizes, including a PlayStation 5.

The PlayStation Tournaments Open Series has been going on since May 2020. The monthly competitions allow players from all over the world to compete against each other for prizes and glory. The Open Series has created a community that celebrates the competitive nature of players.

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The Summer Win-a-thon lets players go beyond just bragging rights and lets them compete for actual prizes. Winning games in the list of Summer Win-a-thon titles will put players onto the Open Series leaderboard. The higher the score, the better the prizes. The top 1,000 players will be awarded $10 in PS Store credit, while the first-place finisher will win a PlayStation 5 along with $250 of PS Store credit.

Sony is incentivizing players to try out the Open Series by offering avatars and themes as rewards for those who compete in all four of the Swiss qualifying matches per title.

The Open Series is filled with competitive games that allow players to test their skills against their global peers. Originally, the Open Series consisted of 11 games including such titles as Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, FIFA 21, and Soulcalibur VI. With the start of the Summer Win-a-thon, Tekken 7, Auto Chess, and Guilty Gear Strive will increase the roster to a healthy 14 games for players to compete in.

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Gaming

You can win cash with PlayStation’s new tournament feature. Here’s how to sign up

Two characters brawl in Guilty Gear Strive.

Sony has officially launched PlayStation Tournaments on the PS5 today. The company announced the launch of the new esports feature in a blog post published this morning following three months of beta testing.

Compete in PlayStation Tournaments for PS5

Gaming

Is PlayStation VR2 worth $550? There’s a good case for and against it

Playstation VR2 headset on a PlayStation-themed wallpaper.

Across the board, VR headsets are going up in price. Just look at Meta's Quest Pro, which costs a whopping $1,500. That trend seems to be continuing with the PlayStation VR2, which we now know we retail at $550 ($50 more than the PS5 it hooks up to). These lavish prices signal that the entry-level days of VR are coming to an end, and that companies may be comfortable courting hardcore fans of the tech who want more powerful and impressive hardware.
Feel a New Real | PS VR2
But will this high pricing pay off for companies like Sony? Look at the comments on the PlayStation Blog post or tweet about the PlayStation VR2's release date, and you'll see how divided the opinions are already. For someone looking to get into VR for the first time with PlayStation's new headset, that big price tag may be off-putting, creating doubt that we'll see VR break into the mainstream in the way manufacturers had hoped.
While some of the current VR price changes may seem like a tough sell, these decisions are more practical than you might think. As soon as you start digging into the nuances of the tech, it becomes clear why prices are going up and why it might pay off for companies like Sony. That said, there's a good case both for and against PS VR2's $550 price tag. Which one is right in the long run might be more about Sony's ability to follow through than initial reactions from fans.
The case for PlayStation VR2's $550 price
To get some context on the current state of VR, I spoke with George Jijiashvili, principal analyst at Omdia. Jijiashvili was surprised by the price point, as Omdia expected PlayStation VR2 to be priced less than the PS5. Still, he explained the factors that likely led to this PlayStation VR2 pricing decision. To start, expensive VR headsets like the $999 Valve Index "underlined the demand for high-end VR headsets on PC, so Sony must have been encouraged to pursue higher-than-expected PlayStation VR2 pricing," Jijiashvili says.
Selling a PSVR with its controllers at a higher price than the PlayStation console is not without precedent.

He also pointed out that the original model of the first PlayStation VR was $399, the same price as a PS4 Slim, when it launched in 2016. That said, it didn't come with a PlayStation Camera or PlayStation Move controllers, which were required to play specific games. Bundles featuring those items that came after the fact would cost players more than a PS4. While the PlayStation VR2 doesn't need a camera, the base $550 version does come with its new proprietary Sense controllers. Jijiashvili believes the cost of the technology included justifies its price tag.
"On reflection, selling a PSVR with its controllers at a higher price than the PlayStation console is not without precedent," Jijiashvili explained. "Sony must not have encountered significant pushback on this six years ago, so they've opted for a similar pricing strategy now with PlayStation VR2 … PlayStation VR2 also offers significantly improved hardware specs over PlayStation VR, which come at increased component and manufacturing costs."

Gaming

PlayStation VR2 launches in February and it costs more than a PS5

PlayStation VR2 headset on blue background.

Sony finally announced that the PlayStation VR2 will release on February 22, 2023. It'll cost notably more than its predecessor, with base models retailing for $550.
In a PlayStation Blog post, Sony confirmed that preorders for the VR headset in North America will begin on November 15 on the PlayStation Direct website. Players will have the option to purchase the basic version for $550, a bundle with Horizon Call of the Mountain for $600, and a $50 charging station for the PlayStation VR2's Sense controllers.

First announced in February 2021, Sony has since slowly rolled out details about its next-generation VR headset and revealed some games for it. Information like the release date and price remained a mystery until today, though. Now, not only do we know when to expect the title and how much it will cost, but we learned about even more games coming to PlayStation VR2.
A separate PlayStation Blog post announced new games and ports coming to the platforms. These include The Dark Pictures: Switchback VR by Supermassive Game, Crossfire: Sierra Squad by Smilgate, The Light Brigade by Funktronic Labs, Cities VR - Enhanced Edition by Fast Travel Games, Cosmonious High by Owlchemy Labs, Hello Neighbor: Search and Rescue by tinyBuild Games, Jurassic World Aftermath Collection by Coatsink, Pistol Whip VR by Cloudhead Games, Zenith: The Last City by Ramen VR, After the Fall by Vertigo Games, and Tentacular by Firepunchd Games.
Specific release dates for those games weren't shared, but considering that Tentacular, Zenith: The Last City, Hello Neighbor: Search and Rescue, Cosmonious High, Cities VR, and The Light Brigade will be available for preorder starting on November 15, it's likely that those games will come out around the PlayStation VR2's launch.
The PlayStation VR2 launches on February 22, 2023.