Tag: Sonys

technology articles

PS5 Is Sony’s Biggest Console Launch Ever and More Units Are Coming by End of 2020

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Sony announced Wednesday that the PS5 was the company’s biggest console launch ever, and promised more inventory of the next-gen console will be coming to retailers for eager gamers by the end of the year.

The official PlayStation Twitter account made the proclamation Wednesday morning and thanked folks for the continued support of the PS5.

“We want to thank gamers everywhere for making the PS5 launch our biggest console launch ever. Demand for PS5 is unprecedented, so we wanted to confirm that more PS5 inventory will be coming to retailers before the end of the year – please stay in touch with your local retailers,” the account read.

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technology

PS5 Is Sony’s Biggest Console Launch Ever, More Stock Promised

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After just under two weeks since launch, Sony is now calling the launch of the PlayStation 5 its “largest console launch ever,” while promising more stock before the end of the year.

The company shared the milestone on Twitter but didn’t get into the specifics of how many consoles it had sold or during what time period. The PS5 launched across a week, with the initial launch happening on November 12 and other regions only getting access on November 19. The console still launched in more regions than the PS4 did originally in 2013, where Sony sold 2.1 million units in the first two weeks.

It seems at the very least that record has been broken now.

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technology articles

Exclusive games power Sony’s sky-high space-age console

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Editor’s note: The PS5 is just hitting stores, and online services and features won’t be stress-tested until the console is widely available to the public. We consider this a review in progress, and will update it extensively over the next several weeks, adding a final review score when appropriate.



a wooden table: The PS5 next to the Xbox Series X. 

© Dan Ackerman/CNET

The PS5 next to the Xbox Series X. 


My PS4 almost made it. It was a launch-day PlayStation 4 from 2013, and it worked great right up until the last few months, like it knew it was about to get the Marie Kondo treatment and replaced by the new, much-advanced PS5. The seven-year-old system still played games fine, but the optical drive mechanism grew confused, giving off random beeps, as if it were trying to eject a ghost disc. 

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And it was right to be worried. The powerful new PlayStation 5 console towers over its predecessor,

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technology articles

3 Games Are Giving Sony’s PS5 One Of The Best Launch Lineups Ever

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It’s a weird one, as far as launch lineups go. Microsoft, Sony, and third-party developers have focused on cross-gen development for the launch of the Xbox Series X, and we don’t have the usual slate of underwhelming first-party games designed to stretch the new hardware. Which, honestly, isn’t such a bad thing. I just got my PS5 on Thursday, and it’s coming in stronger than I thought.

The launch lineup may be strange in some ways, but that cross-gen focus also expands the capabilities of the new machine far beyond what the PS4 could do at launch, and PS5 has wound up with one of the best launch lineups this side of the Switch. There’s a lot going here, but from my perspective there are three exclusive Sony games that are really elevating launch here:

Spider-Man: Miles Morales: This is the launch

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technology articles

Are PS5 Consoles In Short Supply? Gamers Face Battle Buying Sony’s New System

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KEY POINTS

  • Retailers such as Target are out of stock
  • The system goes for $499, but is $100 cheaper for a digital-only package
  • Sony didn’t stock shore shelves with PS5s because of the pandemic

Gamers on Thursday got their chance to snatch up the latest iteration from PlayStation but supply-chain issues and the pandemic are making it tough to buy.

Sony announced last week its PlayStation5 would be available to the general public on Nov. 12, and a week later in some regions — just not in stores. Pre-orders were available and some Twitter users suggested they were walking out of stores under the watchful eye of the unfortunate.

“What a year,” Jim Ryan, the president and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment, said in a statement Wednesday.

In announcing the launch plans last week, the company said that in the interest of keeping people safe during the pandemic, sales would

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technology

Sony’s PS5 Rollout Focused On US Market Instead Of Japan

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Sony’s PS5 promotions appear to focus primarily on the US market and has noticeably pivoted away from Japan. Anonymous Sony employees who spoke to Bloomberg cite PS4’s relatively poor performance in Japan as the reason behind the shift.

Bloomberg’s article lays the math out: While Japan produces 10% of the PS4’s earnings, the US generates 35%, according to Macquarie Group Ltd. analyst Damian Thong. The PS4 also sold less than 10 million units in Japan, as stated by Famitsu, and performed more poorly than the PS3.

Sony disavows that it’s shifting marketing focus. Spokeswoman Natsumi Atarashi stated “our home market remains of utmost importance” and pointed out that PS5 is actually launching in Japan first.

However, company staff on the Japanese side have felt sidelined in PS5’s promotions and said they were “left awaiting for instructions from California.” An unnamed senior employee at PlayStation’s headquarters told Bloomberg they were “frustrated

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technology

Microsoft Sets Sights on Sony’s Home Turf in Console Clash

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(Bloomberg) — Follow Bloomberg on LINE messenger for all the business news and analysis you need.

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In the battle of the next-generation gaming machines, two key players are moving in different directions.

Microsoft Corp. is making a serious attempt to attract fans in Japan with its new consoles and network services. Meanwhile, Tokyo-based Sony Corp. moved its PlayStation business headquarters to California in 2016 and has built the U.S. into its largest single market.

New Xbox and PlayStation devices launching this week will likely face an uphill battle in Japan, where Nintendo Co.’s Switch enjoys dominance with a family-friendly lineup of games.

But Microsoft’s targeting of the world’s third-largest video-game market — including with services that can be accessed across a variety of devices — could potentially yield strong results. As the Xbox has virtually zero presence in the country, there’s plenty of room for it to increase

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technology articles

Xbox On The Offensive, Reportedly Doing This Aggressive Act In Sony’s Turf

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KEY POINTS

  • Xbox is set to release on Nov. 10 worldwide
  • Microsoft is aggressively looking for first-party studios
  • Xbox reportedly eyeing more Japanese studio acquisitions

Xbox continues its search for studio acquisitions in Japan, as a new report reveals that it spoke to various Japanese game developers.

Several Japan-based game developers have been approached by Microsoft about acquiring their business, according to a new report from Bloomberg. The studios asked to remain anonymous and would not divulge any more details about how the discussions ended. 

Xbox’s business lead for Asia, Jeremy Hinton, shared that acquisitions are always a possibility and that the company is “always open to discussions with creators that are a good fit.”

One of these rumored studios is Koei Tecmo, whose president, Hisashi Koinuma, shared with Bloomberg that he is willing to consider releasing more titles on Xbox if the Redmond-based company shows continued interest in the

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technology articles

Microsoft Sets Sights on Sony’s Home Turf in Game Console Clash

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(Bloomberg) — In the battle of the next-generation gaming machines, two key players are moving in different directions.

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Microsoft Corp. is making a serious attempt to attract fans in Japan with its new consoles and network services. Meanwhile, Tokyo-based Sony Corp. moved its PlayStation business headquarters to California in 2016 and has built the U.S. into its largest single market.

New Xbox and PlayStation devices launching this week will likely face an uphill battle in Japan, where Nintendo Co.’s Switch enjoys dominance with a family-friendly lineup of games.

But Microsoft’s targeting of the world’s third-largest video-game market — including with services that can be accessed across a variety of devices — could potentially yield strong results. As the Xbox has virtually zero presence in the country, there’s plenty of room for it to increase its share.

“The Xbox has a chance to make Japan its second-largest market after

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modern technology

PlayStation 5 Review: Sony’s New Console Is an Entertaining Behemoth

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This holiday season, we are faced with a tough quandary: The new PlayStation and Xbox consoles are arriving. Which should we gift to our loved ones — or to ourselves?

There are plenty of options. Beginning Thursday, Sony will ship two versions of the PlayStation 5: a $500 model that includes a disc drive, and a smaller $400 disc-free version that runs downloaded games. The Xbox — which also comes in two models, the $500 Series X and the $300 Series S — will launch on Tuesday.

There are many types of gamers, so we — Brian X. Chen, a PlayStation loyalist, and Mike Isaac, who grew up playing Xbox — test-drove both consoles in our homes. Earlier this week, we shared our impressions of the Xbox. This review will focus on the PlayStation 5.

BRIAN Hello again, Mike! Let’s forget about Biden vs. Trump for a moment to continue

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