For more than 25 years, Sony’s PlayStation has been synonymous with gaming. It’s given players experiences like God of War, The Last of Us, and Final Fantasy VII alongside technological innovations from CD-ROMs all the way up to 4K, VR, and cloud gaming. There have even been attempts at portable gaming with the PSP and Vita. Across multiple generations the company has been a pioneer, starting with the original PlayStation and continuing with the PS5.
With PlayStation Vue long gone, Sony added a new FAST package today for PlayStation 5 owners in the US and soon in Canada, available under the Media section.
You will need an adult PlayStation account and to set up a Sony Pictures Core account (according to Variety, the same package is coming to Bravia TVs) for channels like The Ringer, Hot Ones, NHL, Sony’s own Crunchyroll, and others with a mix of live and on-demand videos.
The show will kick off on YouTube and Twitch at 9AM ET / 6AM PT, followed by a State of Play Japan livestream right after.
HyperX is announcing a slew of new gaming accessories for its Level Awakening livestream event — most notable is the $149.99 Cloud Alpha Air, due out in September.
The open-back headset allows users to stay more in-tune with their surroundings while gaming. The wired headphones weigh just 10.1 ounces / 287g (with detachable boom mic) and connect to PCs or consoles via 3.5mm audio jack, USB-C, or USB-A.
Horizon Hunters Gathering was announced earlier this year, but developer Guerrilla Games has been “working to reboot the game since June” after negative test feedback, according to Bloomberg. The live service elements are apparently being removed, marking yet another live service stumble from Sony. Jason Schreier, who reported the Hunters Gathering news for Bloomberg, has a rundown of Sony’s mostly-failed live service efforts in his video for the story.
As of late, PlayStation has been focusing more on the types of premium single-player games it’s known for. But the next single-player Horizon title “remains years away from completion,” Bloomberg says.
Update: Added Schreier’s video.
From a Wall Street Journal profile of Sony CEO Hiroki Totoki: “Totoki said the company still hasn’t fixed a date for PS6’s launch.” RAM shortages are likely partly to blame, and a Bloomberg report from earlier this year said Sony has considered pushing back the launch to 2028 or 2029.
[The Wall Street Journal]
As part of a $14.99 upgrade or a new Complete Edition, the game will be getting a new narrative expansion, Echoes of Sekigahara, and a “spin” on a roguelike mode, called Most Wanted. With a free 2.0 patch, the game will also get some quality of life upgrades, including a transmog feature.
All of it will launch on October 1st, nearly a year after Ghost of Yōtei’s original release.
It’s available to play through PlayStation’s subscription service starting today, but only if you have an Extra or Premium membership. The game’s arriving in the catalog alongside the release of its Devoid of Liberty update and Warhammer 40,000: Castellan’s Creed legendary warbond.
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No extra download needed, though there will be a day one patch, Eurogamer reports. Still, it’s good news in light of Sony’s recent announcement that it will stop making physical discs for new games starting in 2028.
Sony sold 1.6 million PlayStation 5 consoles, about a third fewer than last year at this time, and says it has plenty of memory for the foreseeable future:
Regarding the impact of memory market conditions on PlayStation 5 hardware, we have secured the quantity of memory necessary to meet our projected sales volume for FY26, and there is no change to our plan for hardware profitability for FY26 to remain similar to FY25.
In other words, there shouldn’t be any major PS5 restock panics or severe manufacturing shutdowns leading into big game launches (like GTA VI), but price increases are always on the table to maintain profitability.
Game preservation group Does It Play? is encouraging console owners to give Sony “a small taste of their own medicine,” announcing a one-week PSBlackout starting on Sunday, August 23rd. Protest participants are being asked to avoid logging into, playing, or purchasing any content on PlayStation-related platforms during this period.
The latest entry in the series was given a firm release date at Comic Con 2026, after being revealed during a Sony State of Play showcase in early June. Unlike previous God of War titles, this one won’t focus on angry dad Kratos, instead following the more dexterous mom Laufey.
PlayStation uploaded new trailers for Marvel’s Wolverine and Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls today, but the comment sections are pretty much all about PlayStation’s plan to kill discs. And this isn’t exactly a new phenomenon.
Bloomberg reported on Chris Barrett’s firing in August 2024, and Barrett sued Sony and Bungie that December. On Wednesday, Barrett said he is “very satisfied” with the settlement, and a joint statement noted that Barrett has been added to Marathon’s credits as the original game director, as reported by Kotaku.
You know what weeping gamers really want? A burned CD with their GitHub repo on it. Fun novelty if you can get it, though. “This is a limited run, so signing up doesn’t guarantee one,” writes Microsoft-owned GitHub.
With Sony ending production of PlayStation discs, one commenter points out that it confirms there’ll be no PS6 disc drive, ending backwards compatibility for physical games — though at least Microsoft is working on a fix for that.
ceejw:
Another thing to consider is that you’ll have no way to playing your physical PS5 and PS4 games on the PS6. Sony will make you buy them again.
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Been thinking about it today for some reason.
In an interview with French media outlet PSI, former SIE Worldwide Studios chairman Shawn Layden said bringing Sony exclusives to PC was always about expanding title visability beyond PlayStation consoles, and wasn’t a money-making strategy:
I think if someone’s waiting 18 months for something to come on PC, we didn’t lose a sale to them. They weren’t going to buy the hardware anyway. If it’s a way to cover costs or the burden of making a port, there is some money attached to that, or the distraction or whatever. I don’t know what they’re thinking.”
Mikhail Klimentov interviewed Schreier about the channel, where Schreier sits in a room and explains things about video games. “A rule that I set for myself is that I will not do any video that takes me more than 30 minutes to do in any way,” says Schreier.
The oldest video on Schreier’s channel was posted on May 27th, and he already has more than 100,000 subscribers.
[ReaderGrev]
“PlayStation hardware unit sales fell to their lowest May total since May 2000, while Xbox hardware unit sales were the lowest ever recorded for a May month,” says Circana analyst Mat Piscatella.
The PlayStation figures are probably explained by the recently-hiked prices. With Xbox prices going up soon, sales might continue to be grim.
Sure, you’ll be able to order a physical edition of the game when preorders open tonight, but Rockstar says the box contains a download code anyway. If you’re buying GTA VI, don’t expect to be able to sell it when you’re done.
SanDisk has a new 8TB PS5 drive, which will cost you a mere $2,959.99 (thanks, RAM crisis!). But that might not be enough for every game.
ItWasRamirez:
And the worst part is that Call of Duty still won’t fit
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Like previous Halo titles, unlockable skulls in Halo: Campaign Evolved will allow you crank up explosions, turn down gravity, or celebrate every grunt headshot with confetti and fanfare. You can even mimic the gameplay of the classic Halo: Combat Evolved, or enable remixes of skulls for randomized choas.
It was great to see how motion capture was used by the cast of the upcoming God of War Laufey game in Sony’s behind-the-scenes video. Jack Quaid was especially in character for his portrayal of Phranque, a sentient gelatinous cube. 10/10, no notes.
