VR Education warns on revenue as PlayStation delays continue

(Sharecast News) - Education-focussed virtual reality (VR) technology company VR Education updated the market on its current trading on Friday, reporting that while Titanic VR had already launched on the PC, Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and Windows Mixed Reality platforms, it was still yet to launch on PlayStation, where a "significant percentage" of sales were expected to be generated.The AIM-traded firm had said in its interim results on 18 September that the PlayStation launch was expected soon thereafter.It said on Friday that the process of onboarding Titanic VR with PlayStation had taken longer than anticipated, and "significantly longer" than the equivalent on-boarding for Apollo 11.The board did say that it remained confident that it would be able to sell Titanic VR on the PlayStation platform in the current financial year.VR Education said it had reviewed its sales forecasts and believed that, as a result of the delays, there would an impact on 2018 full-year revenues, resulting in a "significant portion" deferred until 2019.As such, revenues to 31 December would now be "materially below" expectations.The amount of the shortfall would be determined by the launch date of Titanic VR on PlayStation and how its sales performed, the board said.It promised to update the market once there was further clarity regarding timing of the PlayStation release, and the resulting impact on revenue."We are naturally disappointed that the on-boarding process with PlayStation has taken both longer than expected and longer than we have previously experienced," said VR Education's non-executive chairman Richard Cooper."We understand that large corporates often are very formulaic in the on-boarding process and we are learning from this experience."We remain confident however that Titanic VR will be available on PlayStation by the end of this financial year."The group said its main focus remained the development and commercialisation of ENGAGE - its online virtual learning and corporate training platform.It explained that the commercial release of ENGAGE with full payment capabilities was progressing to plan, and was scheduled to occur before the end of the fourth quarter.The group said it had enhanced its sales capability by engaging Mike Boyce, non-executive director, and a "highly experienced" sales executive in the education space, in a part-time consultancy capacity on business development.Should that appointment turn out to be permanent, then the board said it would consider appointing another independent non-executive director to ensure it remained compliant with the QCA Corporate Governance Code.