The PS4 has PSVR, the PC has its share of VR headsets, Microsoft is somehow still cranking away at HoloLens, and now Nintendo is joining the VR race with its upcoming set of VR Labo kits. There will be four Nintendo Labo VR sets that will let users create a host of different objects to slot the Switch into before putting it up to their face. There is no announced price yet but they will all come out on April 12.
The four sets all include different peripherals to build. The Starter Edition comes with a standard set of VR goggles and a blaster. The Expansion Set 1 comes with a camera and elephant. The Expansion Set 2 has a wind pedal and bird. And the fourth set is a bundle of the three other sets.
Nintendo has not shown any gameplay yet nor was much information given outside of the announcement tweet and product webpage. But Nintendo said it has “more games and creations than any previous kit.” It’s likely we will hear much more in the ensuing days since it launches in just over a month.
It also launches just under a year from Labo’s initial release. While the front runner for game of the year launched the same day, Nintendo’s cardboard projects were not as critically acclaimed. Labo also only moved around 1 million units in 2018. It seemed as though Nintendo wasn’t predicting it would be a giant phenomenon as it stated that it “expected sales and consumer reception to be different from traditional video games like Mario or Zelda.” However, it initially sold well in Japan.
Nintendo claims that Labo has been incorporated into over 100 classrooms over the United States as well as some workshops. This type of acceptance matches its statement on the peripheral as Nintendo said that “it appears that Nintendo Labo has been accepted by our consumers differently than traditional video games.”
