Epic Games announced today that it has a new investor: Sony Corporation. Yes, the very same Sony that makes the PlayStation 4 and will soon be launching the PlayStation 5 has decided to make a $250 million investment in Epic Games. Specifically, Sony will be making this investment through a subsidiary company, but the name of that subsidiary wasn't revealed today.
Japan enjoys a stereotype for producing rather eccentric products and devices and Sony's latest isn't exactly helping. Born from its internal crowdfunding platform, the Reon Pocket was revealed last year to be a thermal device you can wear underneath your shirt to keep you cool during these summer days. In other words, it is the world's first air conditioner that you can wear and, now, also purchase. At least if you're living in Japan.
Sony's PlayStation is the latest major company to ditch Facebook and Instagram, at least temporarily. The company has joined an ongoing boycott that will involve suspending advertisements on the platform during the month of July. In this case, PlayStation has confirmed that it will suspend all of its activity on both social media websites, including sharing non-paid content.
Sony is starting from scratch with the Alpha 7S Mark II replacement, promising that the hotly-anticipated camera will be a ground-up reinvention. The a7S II was a hit among video professionals, among others, but the failure of a successor to arrive alongside the a7 III and a7R IV led some to fear that Sony had decided the series had run its course.
Today is the 10th anniversary of the launch of PlayStation Plus, and to celebrate, Sony has announced that subscribers will be getting three free games in July, one more than the standard two free games we're used to seeing month in and month out. Two of those games are big-ticket titles, while the third is more of an experimental title that's getting a chance at a much larger audience because of this PlayStation Plus promotion.
The Last of Us Part II may have drawn some controversy among fans of the series, but it doesn't seem that was enough to slow down sales. Sony and Naughty Dog have announced that The Last of Us Part II has become the fastest selling first-party exclusive title for PlayStation 4. That may sound like a very specific achievement, but given the number of quality first-party exclusives we've had on the PS4, it's nothing to stick your nose up at.
Better late than never, as they say, and that applies especially for squashing software bugs. All non-trivial software have bugs and that's true both for games as well as the platforms that run these games. Although the PlayStation 5 is just around the corner, Sony is still giving its current PS4 console some much-needed attention by opening up its bug-hunting program to the public at large.
We already knew that Cyberpunk 2077 will be an Xbox Smart Delivery title - meaning that you'll be able to buy it on Xbox One and later upgrade to the Xbox Series X version for free - but what about PlayStation 5? It turns out that a similar upgrade path will be available from PlayStation 4 to PlayStation 5 once Sony's next-gen console is actually on shelves. CD Projekt Red has announced that those who own the game on PS4 will receive a free update that makes it playable on PlayStation 5.
Another day, another delay of the game Cyberpunk 2077. This time, CD Projekt Red co-founder Marcin Iwinski and head of studio Adam Badowski suggested that they've got another good reason. This time, the delay pushes the release from September 17, 2020, to November 19, 2020 - right to the point at which they've selling the game at the same time as the release of the Xbox Series X and the PlayStation 5.
The Microsoft Xbox Series X price and release date schedule leaked in part, suggesting the Sony PlayStation 5 could be in trouble. Of course we still do not know the pricing of the PlayStation 5 for certain, but if a leaked listing on Amazon France proves accurate, Sony might need to make some adjustments. Today's situation with Microsoft seems to be that they'll position the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S as "loss leaders", with prices that rely heavily on future game purchases and subscription fees gathered from gamers that've bought into their ecosystem.
Premium smartphones these days are largely seen as overpriced but Sony's Xperia phones have always been that way. This time, however, the Xperia 1 II (Mark 2) might be among peers when it comes to the price tag and what it's packing inside for that price. There is, however, one odd thing about Sony's latest stab at the smartphone market that might make buyers think twice before pre-ordering theirs.
The Sony PlayStation 5 (PS5, if you prefer) had a bit of a leaky listing problem today on Amazon France. There, it would appear that the Sony PS5 was listed as a pre-release product with a release date of November 20, 2020, and prices at approximately 400 and 500 Euro. Price structure precedent suggests that the release prices in the USA would, then, be around $400 USD for the Digital Edition PS5 and $500 for the standard PlayStation 5.