Tag: Sony - Page 22
News Outgoing PlayStation Exec Says Sony Must Continue to Entertain, Surprise, and Delight
"We're an entertainment business"
Jim Ryan is hanging up his DualSense and leaving PlayStation after a wildly successful 30-year career next month. While his misunderstood, deeply dry sense of humour has landed him in hot water with enthusiasts on numerous occasions, no one could criticise his achievements at the company, which has seen Sony become...
News New Spider-Man 2 Suits for Huge 7th March Update Revealed, Will Cost $5 at First
Proceeds go to Gameheads charity
Insomniac Games has shared more details concerning the gigantic Marvel's Spider-Man 2 update it has planned for 7th March 2024, including new suits to wear, New Game+, and more features like Ultimate Levels and Golden Gadget styles. The big news is two new suits will be made available (seen above) that will cost...
Talking Point Should Sony Be More Transparent About PS5, PS4's Most Played Games?
#Trending
What are the most played games on the PS5 and PS4? We can probably make some educated guesses: you’d expect Fortnite, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, and EA Sports FC to be right up there. But we don’t actually know, do we? Aside from its monthly downloadable sales report and an ambiguous trending section on the PS Store, the Japanese...
News PS5, PS4 Is Losing the SEO War Against Its Rivals
Search engine ranks are really low
Ignoring Nintendo and its library of culturally iconic intellectual property, PlayStation dominates the video games industry around the world. PS5, despite missing its lofty forecast, is by far the biggest home console on the planet – and its home to some of the most popular game franchises, both from first-party...
News Helldivers 2 Honcho Suggests Not Buying the Game, Breaks New Records Anyway
This just keeps getting bigger
Helldivers 2 has not just smashed expectations – it’s nuked them into orbit. The game – a successor to a relatively niche isometric co-op shooter on PS4, PS3, PS Vita, and PC – has become one of the biggest outings on the planet, with even Xbox executive Phil Spencer not-so-subtly pitching for a port of the PS...
News Helldivers 2 PS5 Patch Targets Matchmaking, But Servers Are Still Absolutely Slammed
The price of freedom
The latest Helldivers 2 patch, 1.000.10, is now available on PS5, which developer Arrowhead says will address bugs preventing players from spreading glorious democracy across the galaxy. The good news is that it purports to make matchmaking work; the bad is that servers are still absolutely rammed, and while the framework for...
News Google Engineers Hack PS Portal to Run Emulated PSP Games
Finally
PlayStation's plucky little handheld streaming solution, the PS Portal, has already been hacked, taking a couple of Google employees about a month of effort. Their work is not intended to be released for general consumption anytime in the "near future", but the hack is "all software-based", meaning no hardware exploitation is required. Andy...
News Upgraded PS5 Pro Planning to Be the Best Place to Play GTA 6
System expected in the second half of the year
Murmurs of an upgraded PS5 Pro have been rumbling for some time now, and analysts are certain it’ll arrive some time later this year. The souped-up system is being billed as the best place to play the hotly anticipated GTA 6, which is scheduled to release some time next year. It’s expected the new...
News Resistance Retribution's PS5, PS4 Platinum Won't Take Too Much Effort
You got this
Resistance Retribution is one of the retro re-releases we’ve really been looking forward to on PS5 and PS4, ever since it was rated for Sony’s contemporary consoles over a year ago. The game, originally released on PSP, is a really strong third-person shooter – and while its handheld limitations are likely to be on display in this...
News Arrowhead Investigating AFK Auto Kick to Combat Helldivers 2 Players Going MIA
Undemocratic behaviour
Helldivers 2's meteoric success has been something of a double-edged sword for developer Arrowhead Game Studio. On the one hand, the studio has an instant classic; on the other, the price of that popularity means Helldivers 2 still suffers from constant connection issues. Fans who have been remarkably patient with the...
News PS5 Exclusive Stellar Blade Will Feature a Trio of Graphics Options
Sounds stellar
Something that's come to define PS5 games throughout the console's lifespan is more choice with regards to visual and performance options. Where we used to simply have to put up with whatever resolution and frame rate a game had by default, nowadays, a lot of major titles will have at least two variations. It seems Stellar Blade will...
News Xbox Fans Petitioning for Helldivers 2 to Launch on Xbox
To change the "narrative of the console wars"
Following comments from Xbox boss Phil Spencer over how he's unsure who's helped by Helldivers 2 not launching on Microsoft consoles, Xbox fans have set up a petition directed at PlayStation to try and convince them to bring the co-op shooter to Xbox Series X|S. Close to 23,000 signatures have been...
News Helldivers 2 Hype Continues, More Concurrents Than Every PlayStation PC Port Combined
Servers still feeling the strain
Starship Troopers-simulator Helldivers 2 continues to conquer new worlds, deep-striking past Destiny 2 in terms of concurrent player count and approaching Palworld in terms of popularity. Notable, from a PlayStation perspective, is another surprising feat developer Arrowhead achieved in terms of PC dominance: more...
News Helldivers 2 Beats Destiny 2's All-Time Steam Peak, Gaining on Palworld
Bug blitz
Helldivers 2 is the 2024 hit no one saw coming – well, at least since Palworld, anyway. The game just keeps getting bigger and bigger on PC, where it’s now surpassed Destiny 2’s all-time peak players total by attracting 333k concurrent users overnight. It’s worth noting that with PS5 owners added in, the game’s highs are even...
News Helldivers 2 Will Grant 50% More XP This Weekend to Combat Reward Payout Issues
Dev working on a fix
Helldivers 2 is proving to be pretty damn popular right now, and we imagine it'll be seeing plenty of activity this weekend — but developer Arrowhead has just given fans even more incentive to hop in. There are still one or two issues taking the shine off the game, not least of which is a bug preventing players from being...
News Xbox's 'Everywhere' Future Outlined in Company Memo from Phil Spencer
Read the message now
In case you missed it, Xbox's top dogs set live a podcast yesterday, publicly announcing the company's long-rumoured intention to bring a selection of first-party games to rival consoles. After so much noise around the subject, it hardly came as a surprise, but it's still a noteworthy shift in how the platform holder will handle...
News Sony May Have Made the Right Call Not Copying Xbox Game Pass with PS Plus
Subscription numbers have stalled overall
For the best part of this generation, Sony’s been pressured by a vocal part of the gaming community to borrow Xbox Game Pass’ unproven business model with PS Plus. The platform holder eventually decided to take a half-step, merging PS Now with its existing subscription but resisting the urge to add day...
News PS1 Racer Jet Moto 2 Brings High-Octane Thrills and Spills to PS5, PS4 with PS Plus Premium
Ride it out
Sony’s continuing to bring a hearty helping of emulated classics to PS5 and PS4 courtesy of its PS Plus Premium subscription, and alongside Resistance Retribution, it’ll be adding Jet Moto 2 from 20th February. The original game in the SingleTrac series is already available on the Japanese giant’s contemporary consoles, but this...
News Helldivers 2 on PS5, PC Is One of the Biggest Games on the Planet Right Now
Just keeps breaking records
Helldivers 2 isn’t just blowing up like a traditional bomb – it’s becoming more of a nuclear blast. The game, developed by Arrowhead and published by Sony, is quickly establishing itself as one of the biggest third-person shooters on the planet – and it’s attracting the players to prove it. Despite being limited...
News Sony Shares Drop Sharply After Prediction PS5 Growth Has Peaked
Expected "gradual decline" has investors dumping shares
Sony shares plummeted by some 8.4% on Thursday, their sharpest drop in almost two years, following publishing the firm's latest quarterly financial results. The proclamation that PS5 has reached its peak and the prediction that it expects growth to decline gradually from here seems to have...
News Microsoft Exec on Helldivers 2: I'm Not Sure Who It Helps By Not Being on Xbox
Does this count as port begging?
Microsoft will bring four first-party titles to PS5, but it’s refusing to name which. Said titles will not include Starfield and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, which will remain exclusive to Xbox and PC, until circumstances change. Xbox bigwig Phil
News Xbox Is Bringing Four Exclusives to PS5, But It Won't Say Which
It's not Starfield or Indiana Jones... Yet
Microsoft has officially confirmed it’ll bring four formerly exclusive games to rival platforms like PS5, but it won’t say which ones. As part of a bizarre podcast featuring executives Phil Spencer, Sarah Bond, and Matt Booty, the trillion-dollar tech titan danced around the rumours which have been...
Poll What Review Score Would You Give Helldivers 2?
Hell yeah?
Helldivers 2 has been a bit of a surprise hit for Sony and developer Arrowhead Studios. The game's landed with a genuine bang, pulling a huge number of players across PS5 and PC since its launch last week. The general consensus is that — outside of connection issues — it's a damn good time, especially if you can coax a few friends to...
News Cult Spin-Off Resistance Retribution Is Coming to PS5, PS4 with PS Plus Premium
Word up, Grayson
Days Gone developer Bend Studio’s awesome third-person shooter Resistance Retribution is coming to PS5 and PS4 as part of PS Plus Premium from 20th February, 2024. The excellent PSP game, which introduces British protagonist Lieutenant James Grayson and is set in Paris, first launched in 2009 on Sony’s handheld, where it...
News Sorry PvP Fans, Helldivers 2 Will 'Never' Feature Competitive Modes
Arrowhead doubles down on co-op
We suppose this shouldn't be a revelatory statement for Arrowhead Game Studios to make, but its recently released co-op shooter, Helldivers 2, will remain a strictly co-op shooter. The PS5 and PC title has been a big hit so far, with overwhelmingly positive reception, selling over a million copies at this point, and...
News Arrowhead Recruiting Devs to 'Accelerate and Beef Up' Helldivers 2 Content Plans
Massing for invasion
The success of Helldivers 2's simultaneous launch on both PS5 and PC appears to have caught several interested parties off guard, blowing through initial projections with its ludicrously addictive brand of chaotic, cooperative gameplay. That's despite fairly serious server issues since launch on Friday, with multiple patches...
News Sony Refutes Rise of the Ronin Korean Cancellation Claims, Says It Was Never Announced
All part of the plan
Yesterday, we brought you word of a brewing controversy surrounding the upcoming PS5 action game Rise of the Ronin after director Fumuhiko Yasuda made some comments alluding to a controversial 19th-century Japanese philosopher. It was supposed that these comments were why Sony confirmed the game would not be released in Korea,...
News PS5 Is Entering the 'Latter Half of Its Life Cycle', Says Sony
Manufacturer expecting a gradual decline in hardware sales
We don’t know about you, but it feels like the PS5 has barely broken a sweat yet. Despite being over three years old, the system’s lifespan has been hugely impacted by the pandemic, which has seen its first-party software cadence slow to a crawl and its early years massively affected by...
News Sony Plans to Improve Profit Margins with 'Aggressive' PC Release Strategy
Way of the future
Sony president and PlayStation chairman Hiroki Totoki was asked in a Q&A session following Sony's latest financial results briefing why the game division is seeing an increase in gross income but not profits and what the company could do to improve its bottom line. Totoki said that there are two key areas he wants to focus on...
Rumour Astro Bot Will Return for Another PS5 Rescue Mission This Year
Hope they don't bot-ch it
Sony somehow managed to panic the entire PS5 fanbase this week, when it said it won’t release any entries in its “major existing franchises” this year. The wording was always imperative here, however: it appeared to be alluding to tentpole series like Marvel’s Spider-Man and God of War, thus meaning it’ll rely on...
News More Than 2,000 PS5, PS4 Games Discounted in Massive PS Store Sale
Aw sh*t, here we go again
Sony has flagged another 2,000 PS5 and PS4 items for discount on the PS Store, with the price of a variety of add-on packs and full games slashed by up to 90 per cent. Some standouts, after a cursory glance, include the Digital+ Edition of Marvel’s Midnight Suns for a lowly £17.49/$29.99 and Avatar: Frontiers of...
News 13 More Games Coming to PS Plus Extra, Premium This Month
Plenty more Tales to experience
The batch of fresh additions coming to PS Plus Extra and PS Plus Premium in February have just been revealed by Sony. As usual, there's a good number of new titles joining the party, with 13
News PlayStation Chairman: There's Room for Improvement When It Comes to Business
Praises "highly motivated" studios
Hiroki Totoki has a lot of titles at Sony; in addition to being president, COO, and CFO of the corporation, he's more recently stepped into the role of PlayStation chairman as Jim Ryan winds down his time at the company. He's among the company's top dogs, then — but what does he make of Sony Interactive...
News Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet Could Be a Brand New IP from Sony
Trademarked in the US
In case you missed it, Sony says it's not planning to release any existing franchise games this side of March 2025, meaning any first-party output in 2024 will be fresh properties, such as Stellar Blade or Rise of the Ronin. On this point, it's interesting that
News Marvel's Spider-Man 2's PS5 Sales Swing Past 10 Million Units
Series now surpasses 50 million units overall
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 has now comfortably surpassed 10 million units sold, accurate as of 4th February, 2024. It took the original game a little under a year to topple 13.2 million units, so this is clearly an exceptional result for the sequel. It’s also worth noting that as around 55 million PS5...
News Sony Predicts Slide in PS5 Sales with No Major Existing IPs Planned Before March 2025
"Focused on producing high-quality works"
Sony will not release any sequels or updates to “major existing franchise titles” before March 2025. The wording is exceptionally important here: this does not eliminate the likelihood of PS5 exclusives entirely, it just means you’re unlikely to see a new Ghost of Tsushima or The Last of Us in the next...
News Sony Slashes PS5 Forecast to 21 Million for Fiscal Year
A decrease of four million units
As reported earlier today, Sony shipped 8.2 million PS5 consoles during the three-month period ending 31st December, 2023 – a very good number which contributed to record-breaking revenue, but not enough to help it reach its forecast of 25 million units for the current financial year. Thus far, it?
News PS5, PS4 Pull in an Incredible 123 Million Monthly Active Users
Up over 11 million year-over-year
Console sales are crucial, and Sony will be pleased it’s shipped almost 55 million PS5s to date – but monthly active users are also an important metric for organisations these days. Platform holders want customers to be logging in often, because when they’re engaged, there’s a good chance they’ll spend...
News PS5 Sales Touch 55 Million As Sony Breaks Revenue Records
But fiscal year target is off
You may not be fully satisfied with how PlayStation is running its business right now, but Sony’s bringing home the big bucks all the same. The firm’s gaming division is printing cash, as it shipped a sturdy 8.2 million PS5 units throughout the three-month period ending 31st December, 2023. That’s an increase of...
News Arrowhead Pledges to Compensate Helldivers 2 Players for Missing Rewards
"Increased reward event" incoming
Arrowhead Game Studios has promised to compensate players who were not adequately rewarded for their heroic service in Helldivers 2, with promised loot going missing amidst a chaotic launch experience. When you can get a game, the cooperative shooter is some of the most outrageous fun on the market, so this is...
News Rise of the Ronin's Korean Release Cancelled Following Commentary Controversy
Pulled from PSN, along with marketing materials
If, like ourselves, you're only passingly familiar with the complex, extremely fraught history between Japan and Korea, you might have missed the significance of specific comments made by Rise of the Ronin director Fumuhiko Yasuda in a behind-the-scenes trailer released last week. We certainly did,...
Review Helldivers 2 (PS5) - The Best Co-Op Shooter on PS5
For Super Earth
Helldivers 2 is some of the best fun we've had with friends on PS5. It's a simple and broad statement to start a review with, but in many ways Helldivers 2 is a simple game. This satirical bug-squashing shooter has its upgrades and customisation, but it's at its best when you're holding the trigger and not letting go. This game knows...
News PS5 Goes for the Kill with New Discounts in Europe
In pursuit of 25 million target
Sony is still aiming to ship an impressive 25 million PS5 consoles this fiscal year, and it’s got a little over a month to achieve the milestone. Right across Europe, it’s currently discounting the price of the remodelled PS5 Slim, where in Italy you can get savings of up to €75 through 25th February. That makes...
News Helldivers 2 Is 'Blowing Through Estimates', Around 1 Million Sales In Less Than a Week
Doing your part
Across its opening weekend, it's clear that Helldivers 2 has been a big success. There are some launch period fires to put out, and developer Arrowhead is working on it, having already released patches for across PS5 and PC. However, despite the early issues, the co-op shooter has made a splash, quickly becoming Sony's biggest Steam...
News Games Should 'Earn the Right to Monetise', Says Helldivers 2 Director
Service guarantees citizenship
With the industry as volatile as it is, publishers and developers must find new ways to monetise and offer value to their players to keep them coming back. Released on Friday, Helldivers 2 from developer Arrowhead Studios had a massive weekend, doing things slightly differently from its competitors in the service...
News PS5 Outsold Xbox Series X|S Nearly Two to One, According to Take-Two Sales Data
The hits keep on coming
According to recently revealed sales data from publisher Take-Two, it looks like Sony's PS5 has outsold Microsoft's Xbox Series X|S by a factor of roughly 2:1. Microsoft stopped trumpeting console sales a while back, so getting to a concrete number requires taking a slightly circuitous route. As reported by GameSpot,...
News Helldivers 2 PS5 Patch Should Alleviate Server Strain, Progression Issue Persists
Stand firm, soldier
Helldivers 2 is proving to be a rousing success for developer Arrowhead Game Studios, but the chaotic cooperative shooter's launch has been marred by some persistent bugs (pardon the pun) and recurring issues; the good news is the recently deployed patch on PS5 and increased server capacity should help with matchmaking, but...
News Helldivers 2 Is Now Comfortably Sony's Biggest Ever PC Launch
Touches 120k concurrent players as weekend gets underway
We’ve got to be honest: this wasn’t on our bingo card for 2024 at all. Helldivers 2 has blown up big time, and it continues to climb the Steam most played charts, now peaking at almost 120k concurrent players – with presumably bigger numbers to follow as the weekend goes on. This means...
News The Last of Us 2 Remastered Europe's Best-Selling New Game of January, PS5 Sales Up
Wasn't for nothing
January seems to have been a strong month for Sony, at least in Europe. According to data pulled together by GamesIndustry, last month saw successes for the platform holder in terms of both software and hardware — not a bad way to kick off 2024. The Last of Us Part II Remastered did very well digitally and physically,...
News Sony Aggrieves Anime Fans by Erasing Digital Funimation Content in Crunchyroll Merger
Gone for good
Sony has single-handedly managed to p*ss off the entire anime community, as it’s announced plans to erase purchased digital content as part of Funimation’s merger with Crunchyroll. The Japanese giant effectively has a stranglehold on the popular form of media, as it owns all of the major streaming services and a chunk of content...
