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'Reasonable' Consumers Know They Don't Own Digital Downloads, Sony Says
The company was responding to a suit accusing it of violating California law.
New Sony Policy Could Lead To Legal Action Against Vocal PS5 Disc Critics
Sony announces aggressive new measures amid an ongoing PS5 protest that has plagued games like Marvel's Wolverine
Sony’s new party speakers have more bass, more LEDs, and more connectivity
Sony’s got three new party speakers for bass lovers.
gamescom 2026’s Steam wishlist winners
gamescom wrapped up last weekend, and it was bloody fantastic. It really felt like the industry had a spring in its step again. The show itself was BUZZING, with 368K attendees (+3% over last year), maxed-out exhibit space, and Opening Night Live pulling over 78M online views (+7.5%). Let’s have a look at the games at the event that brought in the most new Steam wishlists between August 23 and 30. One quick thing before we start, and stop me if you’ve heard this one before, but wishlists are NOT a barometer for launch sales (they’re bookmarks, not baskets is what we always say over here at Alinea). With that aside, wishlists are a nice gauge of hype, so let’s dive in. Witche(r)s and Warlocks take the top two spots The biggest game of the event (by new wishlists, anyways) wasn’t a game at all. It was an expansion. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt’s upcoming expansion, Songs of the Past, nabbed 451K Steam wishlists by the end of the weekend. It’s a big example of something we bang on about constantly: proven IP with built-in fandom is the most powerful force in this market. But said IP can also ripple into other external success stories (more on that later!). Anyway, Songs of the Past debuted at Opening Night Live, and it’s the first Witcher 3 expansion in over a decade, landing next year after a full Witcher 3 remaster (free for existing owners!) arrives next month. The Witcher 3 has sold around 66M copies, and I’ll be one of those owners jumping back in to refresh myself on the core game (like there isn’t enough to play!), then play the expansion next year. This is all part of CDPR’s plan. The studio is clearly whetting everyone’s appetite for The Witcher 4 in 2028 via a classic bridge strategy. Want more free estimates and insights in your inbox twice a week? Subscribe below! Subscribe Releasing a free 4K remaster next month – followed by a proper expansion in 2027 – keeps IP top-of-mind across a huge gap between content (games-wise, anyway). It kind of echoes Capcom’s evergreen catalogue strategy. And outsourcing co-development to Fool’s Theory (a studio led by trusted Witcher 3 veterans) keeps CDPR’s internal headcount focused on The Witcher 4. #2 by wishlists between Aug 23 and 30 went to another giant IP: Warlock: Dungeons & Dragons, published by Wizards of the Coast and developed by Invoke Studios (a team of ex-Far Cry, Watch Dogs, and Splinter Cell devs). It’s due to launch in 2027, and it looks brilliant so far. It’s a dark-fantasy open world with third-person spell-slinging. It’s a very Witcher-ish aesthetic. As you might expect, 48% of Warlock’s Steam wishlisters have played Baldur’s Gate 3, and 46% have played The Witcher 3. One to watch. For sure! Mash-ups: Anime GTA (!?) and a city-builder for kids (and adults) Ananta took #3 with 302K new wishlists. It’s an open-world game that looks like GTA and Persona had a baby. It was published by NetEase, developed by Naked Rain, and got a trailer at Opening Night Live. I got hands-on at the show, and it wears its influences openly; there’s literal web-slinging (very Spider-Man) and a LOAD of mini-games (Like a Dragon). It’s free-to-play and out in January. For Ananta, Naked Rain is taking the free-to-play, cosmetics-only route. That’s certainly a choice for a single-player open-world game. Without gacha mechanics driving high ARPU, Ananta is betting purely on top-of-funnel reach and long-term retention. This puts pressure on skin appeal when there’s no multiplayer lobby to flex in (although, co-op is reportedly coming later). Want more free estimates and insights in your inbox twice a week? Subscribe below! Subscribe Then there’s Lego Skylines (273K wishlists between Aug 23 and 30), which does exactly what it says on the tin. It’s a cosy Lego twist on the city-builder genre, as shallow or as deep as you fancy (five min quick sesh or ten-hour no-lifer session; latter for me). There’s some family-friendly stuff in there like couch co-op, which is only really viable on console. Iceflake Studios, which Paradox acquired back in 2020 is developing this one. So Paradox is probably looking for a family-friendly onramp to its rad Cities: Skylines games. The overlap there is plain, with 33% of Lego Skylines wishlisters having played Cities: Skylines and 16% Skylines II. There’s no doubt plenty of parents here (and uncles, ahem) planning to indoctrinate the next gen of city-builders. I’ll definitely be playing with my youngest nephew. This one could be big and educational. I’m very curious to see more. Want more free estimates and insights in your inbox twice a week? Subscribe below! Subscribe Mature IP, new and old, rounds out the list As for the rest of the list of gamescom games by new wishlists between Aug 23 and 30: Heroes of Might & Magic III Remake got 189K new wishlists. It remakes the iconic 1999 turn-based-strategy classic in full 3D and 4K. It follows this year’s Heroes of Might & Magic: Olden Era (~1.8M copies sold, as per our estimates), and around a quarter of the III Remake wishlisters have played Olden Era, including 7% of them this month. Wardogs – a $40 PvP shooter – added another 146K to an already massive pile (nearly 1.6M total). It’s published by Team17 and made by Bulkhead. It plays somewhere between the tactical squad stuff of … Squad and the all-out-chaos battlefield of … Battlefield. It’s up to 100 players, and it’s out in about 10 days. It’s already pre-sold over 500K copies on Steam ($16.6M), boosted by a pre-order-only beta. It sold another 70K copies during gamescom, too. Afterworld managed 121K new wishlists. It’s a Paradox-made post-apocalyptic grand-strategy game, and it was announced at the show. It’s a departure from Paradox’s usual historical stuff, and the studio’s first new setting in over a decade. The Paradox purists are into it, with over half its wishlisters having played Hearts of Iron IV (19% this month) and 41% Crusader Kings III (17% this month). Metro 2039 got 110K during the show, tunnelling its total past 1.3M. Nearly 40% of wishlisters have played 2020’s Metro Exodus, the previous mainline title in the series. The Metro novels are Russian, dev 4A Games is Ukrainian, and it’s set in Moscow, so it’s unsurprising that – after the US (17.3% of wishlisters) – the next two countries are Russia (12.7%) and Ukraine (10.0%). The Blood of the Dawnwalker drew in (the blood of) 108K new wishlisters, now totalling an impressive 1.7M (at a $70 price point, though). It’s an open-world dark-fantasy action-RPG set in 14th-century Europe (with vampires!), made by some former Witcher devs at Rebel Wolves. Again, it shows. Over half of Blood of the Dawnwalker’s wishlisters have played The Witcher 3, and its #2 market is Poland, home of Rebel Wolves. That’s that hometown-hero effect we keep banging on about again! And Blood of the Dawnwalker plays very well, by the way. While it looks like a Witcher clone on the surface, it actually brings a lot to the table mechanics-wise. I love the whole time-as-a-currency spin on RPG gameplay. It gives the game a different, refreshing pace. Essentially, you start Blood of the Dawnwalker with a pool of 480 action points spread across 30 days and 30 nights. As for how the game performs, we’ll be posting some numbers next week, so hit subscribe below to get that in your inbox when it’s ready. Subscribe The Witcher’s legacy ripples Make no mistake: on a high level, this was The Witcher‘s gamescom. The #1 game by wishlisters was a Witcher 3 DLC. Warlock is clearly Witcher-inspired – as is Blood of the Dawnwalker, which was made by ex-Witcher devs. There was a lot of other cool stuff on the floor that we’ll no doubt be covering in subsequent newsletters, though! As always, wishlists went through the roof for sequels, remakes, DLC, and licensed IP. As always, though, these wishlists will likely convert to about 5% to 10% of launch-day buyers, with the probable exception of The Witcher DLC – the exception that proves the rule. Either way, we’ve got a nice, diverse list here – one that is very Witcher-y, Paradox-y, and – if you’re a fan of great games on Steam – a bloody good list. We even got a bunch of new IP to get excited for. Great gamescom! Even if we are still processing that unfathomable number of mini Kölsch beers! One more thing: GTA 6 broke the internet (again) Move aside, Spider-Man and The Odyssey (I love you both, really). But the decade’s defining entertainment zeitgeist is round the corner. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll know that Rockstar dropped an extended look at GTA 6 last week. It was INSANE, the most impressed I’ve ever been by a showcase like this. You can see the budget seeping through every second of the extended look, and this level of game is unobtainable for any other publisher. Everyone’s going nuts, and rightly so. GTA 6 is out in holiday 2026, and it’ll be the biggest entertainment release ever, full stop. For those without a PS5 or Xbox Series console, a $500-$900 console is a big ask in this economy, but GTA will pull a lot of last-generation-console fence sitters over the current-gen fence either way: The autumn timing puts GTA 6 on (digital) shelves for the holidays, meaning a PS5 or Xbox (let’s be honest, mostly the former) will be on many a Christmas and Hanukkah list. Demand will outweigh the struggling supply, though, and PS5 Pros are already sold out and being sold at a markup via scalpers. Every console that isn’t on a shelf is a sale deferred or lost, and worse, it hands scalpers the margin. GTA has cultural clout that reaches everyone. It’s been a mainstream fixture since 2001’s GTA III and its clout has only grown exponentially since then. There’s a touchpoint for every generation alive. The FOMO-word-of-mouth double punch does the rest. Loading... It’ll reactivate the lockdown cohort, the millions who picked up gaming in 2020-21 and churned. GTA 6 will bring them back. Remember when College Football 25 brought a bunch of US gamers to current-gen consoles? GTA will do that globally. Once they’re back (or upgraded), and all GTA’d out, the fresh current-gen-console folks will check out the rest of the current-gen catalogue they missed. GTA Online, if not free to play, will also lead to a boost for PS+ and Xbox Game Pass, another boost for the ecosystem players. Want more free estimates and insights in your inbox twice a week? Subscribe below! Subscribe Even some of the smug PCMR 60FPS crew won’t be able to resist their FOMO and will bite the bullet on a console to play this one early (then double dip). The consoles cost the same as a decent stick of RAM these days anyway lmao… Don’t get me wrong, though. GTA 6 is no silver bullet for the mature console market, but it does prime the current gen for a couple of strong swan-song years. And it’ll also give the consoles more users from which to maximise ARPU. ‘’We are in the latter half of the lifetime cycle of [the PS5],’’ said Sony President and CEO Hiroki Totoki in a Wall Street Journal interview. ‘’That means we do not need to aggressively sell the console today; rather than that, we are focusing on the current revenue from the current user base.’’ The biggest, best premium games always arrive late in a console cycle, so getting more players aboard now, ahead of that content storm (the new current-gen-only Call of Duty included), is a clear win for the platforms. On the Netflix thing, though: let’s all chill out a bit, like. Half my LinkedIn feed was going bonkers treating the reveal debuting on Netflix like it’s the future of entertainment. It wasn’t. It was a six-hour head start, and Netflix left that detail out of the “first-of-its-kind partnership” press release. The extended look hit Netflix at 3pm ET on 27 August, then went up on YouTube and Rockstar’s site for everyone six hours later. And it was all over social immediately, anyways. This reveal was going to reach an untold number of people whether it debuted on Netflix, YouTube, a Times Square screen, or a group chat. The last trailer did nearly half a billion views in a day with no gatekeeper at all. Netflix just stood next to that audience for six hours, borrowing it. It’s was a tidy deal for Netflix, sure. But every outlet on earth was breaking the thing down frame by frame by the evening anyway. Anyway. I’m hype. And we’ll be covering some GTA numbers on the newsletter soon. So hit subscribe below to get that in your inbox when it’s ready! Subscribe The last word Reply to this email – or reach out here – if you have any feedback for the newsletter – or want to request a game for us to cover. [Alinea Analytics boasts the most accurate PC and console estimates in the business. Game makers use our platform to understand their audience, keep an eye on the competition, monitor sales trends, and spot new opportunities. We equip game studios and financial institutions with accurate data and the confidence to make smarter, data-driven decisions. Want to talk about all things games market data? We’d love to chat!]
Sony Institutes Harassment Policy Following PS5 Disc Controversy
PlayStation has been receiving an uptick in online complaints after announcing it would stop manufacturing discs in 2028
'Reasonable Consumers' Know They Don't Own Digital Games, Says Sony
You're buying a license, not the product
Sony Bravia Theater Trio review: The three-piece soundbar alternative
The Bravia Theater Trio is a capable three-piece option for larger TVs, but you’ll need additional gear for truly immersive sound and adequate bass.
Sony says ‘reasonable consumers’ know they don’t own the digital games they buy
It’s “not plausible” to suggest people believe they’re “obtaining ownership”…
Naughty Dog Confirms Major Intergalactic Milestone Ahead of Sony's State of Play
Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet gets an important update ahead of State of Play
Save Over 50% Off a Like New Pair of Sony WH-1000XM6 Wireless Noise Canceling Headphones During the eBay Labor Day Sale
Includes a 2 year warranty.
Sony Argues in Court That Digital Games Can't Be Owned
The PlayStation maker is fighting a California class action over "Buy Now" buttons, and has asked the judge to send the case to arbitration.
Sony’s WH-1000XM5 headphones are back down to their lowest price
$198 through September 7th.
Sony Says It No Longer Needs To 'Aggressively Sell' The PS5
125 million PS Plus users turns out to be enough
Sony's next PlayStation State of Play coming this Thursday, followed by a Japan and Asia-dedicated showcase
We're due for another summer PlayStation State of Play, and we're getting two of them in one day.
The 19 most exciting video game releases of September 2026
You're spoilt for choice when it comes to new video games launching in September, including new exclusives from Sony and Nintendo, a Capcom revival, and, of course, football.
Rumor: Sony Reportedly Reconsidering Delaying Digital-Only Plans Due to Xbox Pushing for "100% Physical" Strategy for Xbox
Sony is reportedly thinking of delaying its digital-only plans, as Microsoft is said to be pushing for 100% physical regarding Project Helix.
Sony says Claude trained on pirated lyrics, seeks $150K a song
In a new lawsuit, Sony Music and Warner Chappell say Anthropic used "thousands upon thousands" of songs to train Claude, including "Eye of the Tiger."
Sony, Warner sue Anthropic, alleging "blatant theft" of intellectual property
The suit is likely the opening salvo in what promises to be a long battle over intellectual property.
Sony Bravia 9 II TV Review: The Best RGB LED TV I’ve Tested, but Here’s What to Buy Instead
It’s a great performer with excellent color reproduction — the next best thing to an OLED — but you’ll pay for it.
Sony finally has a cheaper OLED to compete with midrange Samsung and LG TVs
The Bravia 6 is Sony’s first OLED TV with four HDMI 2.1 ports.
Sony's Reon wearable air conditioner saved my sanity through multiple heatwaves
Sony's Reon Pocket Pro Plus looks like an alien is attached to your spine, but it works.
Executives from EA and Tencent to speak alongside Netflix, Sony, and Disney at FT Business of Entertainment summit
Leadership summit takes place in West Hollywood in September, with discount for GamesIndustry.biz readers
Executives from EA and Tencent to speak alongside Netflix, Sony, and Disney at FT Business of Entertainment summit
Leadership summit takes place in West Hollywood in September, with discount for GamesIndustry.biz readers
PlayStation Plus Monthly Games for September 2026 Leak, Headlined by Sniper Elite: Resistance
September's PlayStation Plus monthly games lineup has leaked online ahead of Sony's official announcement.
Stability AI latest funding backed by entertainment industry biggest names
We've closed our Series B, bringing total funding to $232M under new leadership. This round welcomes entertainment titans Electronic Arts, Sony Music Group, Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, and more.
The Witcher 4's 2028 release date sparks PS5 physical release concerns, but is there anything CD Projekt Red can do to avoid Sony's decision?
Sony will stop making PS5 discs in January 2028, and The Witcher 4 will be released in 2028. Does that mean it'll be digital only?
Sony sends PlayStation users a reminder they don't own their digital games just as a fan boycott over ending discs kicks off
PlayStation users receive unsolicited terms-of-service reminder emails stating that their digital games aren't owned, just as a week-long boycott begins.
Marvel Tōkon And 2XKO Show Fighting Games Can’t Catch A Break In 2026
The year started off with a lot of promise for fighting games
Sony CEO calls memory shortage timing "lucky" following PS5 console price increases
Despite criticism over PS5 price hikes, Sony CEO Hiroki Totoki is confident in PlayStation’s future. The memory shortage intensified when the company had already secured a large user base. The executive told The Wall Street Journal that he is content to profit from existing console owners.
Sony just announced it’s launching a new smartphone next week
We are probably going to see the Xperia 10 VIII in only a few days.
'We Don't Need to Aggressively Sell the Console': Sony CEO Says Timing of Memory Crisis Is 'Lucky' for PS5
"Monetising users is quite important for us"
Turning Play into Progress: An Update on Sustainability Efforts
Learn how Sony Interactive Entertainment is advancing sustainability through lower emissions, reduced plastic packaging, ecosystem restoration, and climate research.
Sony Music Vision, Cinemex, and Fathom Entertainment Bring Juan Gabriel’s Landmark Bellas Artes Concert Film to U.S. Theaters September 15
Sony Music Vision and specialty distributor Fathom Entertainment has today that Juan Gabriel: Mi Primer Bellas Artes, a newly re-edited and restored theatrical presentation of the legendary singer-songwriter’s 1990 performance at Mexico City’s Palacio de Bellas Artes, will come to U.S. theaters nationwide for the first time ever on September 15, 2026. Juan Gabriel’s Bellas […]
Guerrilla Is Reportedly Overhauling Horizon Hunters Gathering To Make It More Of A Traditional Co-Op Game
Yet another Sony live-service game seems to be in trouble after reports of poor player feedback.
Launching PS6 and Xbox Helix at $1,000 could lead to a nearly 40% drop in sales over five years, analyst warns
Ampere Analysis has identified three ways Sony and Microsoft could keep prices lower…
PlayStation Is Reportedly Overhauling Live-Service Horizon
A report in Bloomberg suggests that Guerilla's stab at a live-service model is going about as poorly as Sony's previous efforts. - Game Informer
(For Southeast Asia) Introducing Pulse Elevate – Sony Interactive Entertainment’s first wireless speakers for desktop gaming
Pulse Elevate features ultra-low latency, lifelike gaming audio, and a built-in mic - all in a portable form factor.
PlayStation’s wireless gaming speakers launch in November
The $219.99 speakers offer “lifelike sound,” Sony says.
The physical media selection at Sony's Crunchyroll is even worse than fans feared after store update: all books removed and Blu-ray lineup gutted
Manga, light novels, manhwa, and more have vanished
'We cannot survive in this landscape' — Sony CEO confirms the PS6 has no fixed launch date and it needs to 'take some action' as the RAM shortage continues
Sony CEO Hiroko Totoki has confirmed that the PlayStation 6 release date remains undecided due to the ongoing manufacturing component crisis and trade wars.
‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day,’ ‘The Odyssey’ Continue Tussle Atop U.K., Ireland Box Office
Sony’s superhero tentpole “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” dominated the U.K. and Ireland box office for a third consecutive weekend, adding £6.1 million ($8.3 million), elevating its running total to $106...
Sony's New 'It Happens on PS5' Ad Has Gone Down Exactly as You'd Expect
"Discs used to happen on PS5"
Sony still hasn't chosen a PlayStation 6 release date, says CEO, as RAM crisis continues
There is still no internal release date for the PlayStation 5 successor, according to Sony's CEO.
Sony Ends Stonks-9800 Dev's Publisher Agreement Without Warning
'PlayStation Support refuses to listen to my arguments or even respond to my emails in any way,' stated Ternox Games
PlayStation 6 release date still hasn’t been decided, Sony CEO Hiroki Totoki says
The global component shortage has created problems for the PS6 company…
Indie developer of popular stock market game says Sony is blocking a PS5 release and delisting its previous games
STONKS-9800 is no longer coming to PS5 and all of Ternox’s previous games are being pulled…
Sony Unilaterally Blocks Release of Popular Indie Game
Stonks-9800 developer Ternox Games claims they broke no rules and have been unfairly banned by Sony.
Pixel 11 series, Honor Robot Phone, Redmi 17 official, Week 33 in review
Sony says that Xperia 1 VIII sales are strong, praises microSD slot and 3.5mm jack as integral features. Tech news started picking up a bit, especially in...
Which Nvidia GPU Is Equivalent To The PlayStation 5?
Sony's video game console most closely matches an Nvidia RTX 3070, the equivalent of a mid-range card. But there's more to it than raw specs.
Killing PlayStation discs could make PS Store games cheaper, according to a former Square Enix exec
A former Square Enix business development director explains why axing PlayStation discs could make PS Store games cheaper.
BREAKING: Netflix to shut down two more game studios
Netflix is sticking with video games but once again reducing the number of studios it owns making games. The streaming giant is closing Los Angeles-based Night School studio, which it acquired in 2021 and plans to close Helsinki-based Moonloot, which was founded in 2022. Just six weeks ago, Night School had released Unhinged, a novel 30-minute first-person horror game, streamable on TVs to Netflix users. The game was hailed by Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters in a call with investors. Six weeks later, Night School is closing. Prior to its Netflix tenure, Night School had developed the award-winning supernatural thriller Oxenfree. A second Oxenfree game followed after the purchase, as well as a mobile game designed to tie in to an episode of the Netflix show Black Mirror. Netflix attributed the studio closures to a prioritization around kids gaming, party games, story-driven fare and games with mainstream hooks, such as a recently released FIFA game. “We see an opportunity to be more focused in our execution, so we are making organizational changes to the business to match those priorities,” a Netflix spokesperson told Game File. Netflix is also cutting jobs from its internal games team. A rep declined to say how many jobs were being lost by these cutbacks. “We are incredibly grateful to the talented colleagues we’re saying goodbye to today. We thank them for all their contributions to Netflix, and wish them the best,” the rep said. Netflix started releasing video games, initially on mobile as a free bonus to subscribers, in 2021. By 2023, Mike Verdu, then the head of Netflix’s game operations, was telling me that the company was committed to growing carefully, as it offered more games and built up internal game studios. At the time, it hadn’t made any gaming job cuts. Since then, Netflix has altered its approach. In 2024, it shut down Team Blue, a start-up studio led by ex-Call of Duty and Halo developers that was exploring making a high-end first-person game for the service. Last October, Netflix shut down another studio, Boss Fight, shortly after Peters praised the team’s Squid Game game to investors. (One of Boss Fight’s main developers now works on the Netflix FIFA game for outside studio Delphi.) And in December, Netflix sold cozy game studio Spry Fox back to its founders. Amid all of this, Netflix has shifted from emphasizing mobile games to offering games through TVs and PCs, via streamed connections, with phones used as controllers. That’s how Night School’s Unhinged worked, along with games such as Boggle and Party Crashers that have collectively helped the Netflix game controller app chart well on mobile app stores. The studio cuts leave Netflix with a central gaming team that works with external developers, and a dedicated first party studio in, Helsinki-based Next Games, which produced many of the company’s couch-centric party games. The move away from having a roster of internal game studios aligns with Netflix’s own approach to shows and movies, which are largely produced externally. The company owns few TV/film production studios of its own. The gaming industry overall is seeing large holders of multiple studios cut back, with Sony, Ubisoft, Embracer, Microsoft and other giants closing or selling off studios. Cuts in California-based studios, where costs often run relatively high, have been particularly acute. Netflix has faced skepticism about its gaming plans for years. The moves today are likely to fuel them, and the company has few upcoming projects to counter the narrative. Among the few hinted, acclaimed independent studio Don’t Nod said last year it was working on a game tied to a major Netflix franchise.
HELLDIVERS 2 Joins the PlayStation Plus Game Catalog
HELLDIVERS 2 joins the PlayStation Plus Game Catalog, alongside the new Warhammer 40,000: Castellan’s Creed Legendary Warbond and the launch of “Devoid of Liberty,” a new horror-themed narrative arc.
Ghost of Yotei narrative expansion, new combat survival mode launch October 1 alongside Complete Edition
Publisher Sony Interactive Entertainment and developer Sucker Punch Productions have announced Ghost of Yotei narrative expansion “Echoes of Sekigahara,” combat survival mode “Mos…
Out of nowhere, Sony confirms that 2024 breakout hit Helldivers 2 joins PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium today
New enemies, new ranks, new missions - same ol' alien scum.
Sony Announces Phantom Blade Zero State of Play and Everyone Knows How the Chat Is Going to Go
Promising looking action game Phantom Blade Zero is getting its very own State of Play, but if the reaction to Sony’s announcement is any indication, the chat is going to be overrun with angry comments about Sony’s decision to kill PlayStation discs.
Crunchyroll, Sony Pictures Entertainment to Release Makoto Shinkai's Next Movie
Crunchyroll is announcing today that it has acquired the worldwide distribution rights (excluding Asia, but including India) for Makoto Shinkai's next feature film, with Crunchyroll and Sony Pictures Entertainment to co-distribute.
Stop Killing Games Joins Dutch Consumer Group's $457M Lawsuit Against Sony Over Digital Store 'Monopoly'
The Stop Killing Games movement is officially suing Sony, claiming the company’s “monopoly” over the video game market is blatantly “against the law.”
Stop Killing Games Joins Lawsuit Against Sony's Digital 'Monopoly'
Both Stop Killing Games and DoesItPlay are lending their support to a lawsuit against the digital 'monopoly'
Marvel's Wolverine "fully playable" on disc when it releases, Insomniac clarifies, perhaps making it one of the last few PlayStation games that will be
The controversy around Sony's decision to end production of PlayStation discs rages on. But Insomniac is all-in on physical media for Marvel's Wolverine.
Saber's newest game trailer takes a shot at Gearbox's CEO, if you look closely
The first hint that something might be up with the recent debut trailer for Saber Interactive’s Rideshare Stimulator is an unusual choice of words—aside from that second one in the game’s title. “Don’t take your passengers too seriously,” the trailer’s narrator says, as he describes this upcoming game. It a car game about the gig work of driving eccentric people to their destinations, a riff on Crazy Taxi. And then, he says: “When I think I’ve met the randiest of passengers, someone even stranger gets in.” “Randiest”? That suggests “randy,” which usually means having strong sexual desire. Yet none of the oddball backseat occupants featured in the trailer seem particularly lustful. One is an old man who considers his grandson a failure, another shares the theory that birds might control traffic lights, another says he’s banned from an aquarium. A little later, there’s a license plate, shown 63 seconds into the trailer, on the front of an SUV: USB DRV It’s a Texas plate. The symbol between those letters is a cog wheel. If you know, you know. That’s a reference to Texas-based Borderlands game development studio Gearbox Software (their logo features a cog wheel). More specifically, it’s a reference to Gearbox’s CEO Randy Pitchford, who in 2018 found himself explaining the nature of video he’d saved on a USB drive that was found at a Medieval Times restaurant before being returned to the studio: “It was ‘barely legal’ porn. This girl’s handle was ‘Only 18.’” The “girl” in the video had committed a solo sex act that Pitchford, an avid practitioner of magic, found remarkable. “I realized, this is not a sex worker…This is a fucking magician.” Back then, the USB drive was central to competing lawsuits against Gearbox by the studio’s former lawyer and by Gearbox against him. A settlement in late 2019 “exonerated” Pitchford, per the Hollywood Reporter. The USB story has resurfaced at times, now in a trailer from a company that not long ago was corporate brethren with Gearbox. Saber vs. Gearbox The head of Saber told Game File that the reference is payback. “The dig is because Randy took shots at Embracer in Borderlands 4,” Saber CEO Matt Karch told me when I asked him about the license plate. “Without Embracer, Randy is performing magic tricks at birthday parties for a living.” Having interviewed Karch during a cross-country flight in late 2024, I can confirm that Karch was unimpressed with Pitchford during their time both working in the Embracer group. I’d approached him not out of surprise that there was animosity but that it was manifesting publicly now. Gearbox was founded in 1999, worked on a port of Halo early on, and developed hit series such as the loot-based sci-fi shooter Borderlands before it was purchased by The Embracer Group in early 2021 for $363 million (with a possible earn-out of over $1 billion, if certain targets were hit by 2027). Saber was founded in 2001, worked on a remaster of Halo early on, had a big hit with zombie shooter World War Z and was purchased by Embracer in early 2020 for $150 million, with a potential earn-out of up to $375 million. For a few years, the Embracer group was a voracious acquirer of game studios. Then, as investment dried up, it choked. In March 2024, Embracer sold Saber to an investment company controlled by Saber CEO Matt Karch, and it sold Gearbox in an all-stock deal to long-time Borderlands publisher Take Two Interactive. Other studios were shut down. Hundreds of developers were laid off. Gearbox didn’t say much about their Embracer experience, nothing too direct, at least. In the summer 2024, Pitchford told reporter and occasional Game File contributor Nicole Carpenter that Borderlands 4’s story was in some way thematically connected to Gearbox’s experience at Embracer: “There’s this cultural and emotional shift in me, personally, and at the studio. What does it mean to trade some autonomy for organization?” When Borderlands 4 came out, there was something stranger: the matter of “Embracer’s Bluff,” a location in the game featuring an AI-powered toilet and a large trash dump, according to a detailed Kotaku account of the place. Gearbox never commented on it; Take Two never got back to me about it when I asked them last year. By contrast, since Saber exited Embracer, Karch has been one of Embracer’s biggest defenders, casting their management as well-meaning and supportive despite the layoffs and studio closures that resulted from their excessive expansion. Like others, Saber’s Karch saw Embracer’s as a shot. With Rideshare Stimulator’s trailer, he’s returned fire. “It’s amazing to me how fast people forget those who went above and beyond for them,” Karch told Game File. A rep for Gearbox did not comment by press time. Game File is a reader-supported publication. Your backing makes my reporting—including any coverage of trailer-based beefs—possible. Good news! I’m currently running Game File’s first big sale of 2026. You can get a one-year subscription for 23% off. Click here to take advantage of the limited-time offer. And thank you for your support! Item 2: In brief… 🚫 Wal-Mart has laid off the staff of Restart, a games media outlet launched in 2024, Aftermath reports. 🟥 A GTA VI preview is on the way, at last, via an “extended look” that will premiere, unusually, on Netflix at 3pm ET on August 27, then officially go live elsewhere six hours later. Last week, Game File noted that Take Two label Rockstar Games is overdue for showing off GTA VI, based on the timing of the initial hands-off previews of GTA V and Red Dead Redemption 2. During a call with investors, Take Two CEO Strauss Zelnick said pre-orders for GTA VI were “unprecedented and astonishing,” but added the company can’t predict how many of those pre-orders represent bonus sales vs. sales that otherwise would have been made at launch. During the same call, Zelnick was noticeably bullish on the future of playing games over streaming cloud connections (predicting wider adoption in three or so years). He sounded unbothered by Sony’s plans to stop making discs for new games (he said the business is 90% digital already and predicted that there could still be limited edition physical editions of games “in the same way there’s still vinyl in the recorded music business.”) 👀 Take Two wrote off $43 million in their spring quarter after deciding “not to proceed with further development of an unannounced title in its pipeline from a third-party developer.” 🤔 Some rare age-demographics from a big publisher: Capcom recently told investors that “users in their 20s account for approximately half of the users of both Pragamata and Resident Evil Requiem.” Item 3: The week ahead Tuesday, August 11 Game releases: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered (Switch 2; already out for PC, PS5, Xbox) continues the Bethesda strategy of putting Elder Scrolls games on everything; Royalty Free-For-All is a Smash Bros.-style fighting game featuring public domain characters such as Mother Goose brawling with Oliver Twist in a stage based on the original Little Shop of Horrors movie. Wednesday, August 12 Game release: Pro Jank Footy (PC, console) is an arcade-style Australian Rules Football game with increasingly ridiculous rules, the more you play (I enjoyed the Steam demo) Thursday, August 13 Game release: Super Mario Sunshine (Switch 2, originally released in 2002 on the GameCube) is released for Switch 2’s Nintendo Switch Online service. This game is the black sheep of 3D Mario games. It’s the successor to the breakthrough Super Mario 64 and the rare Mario game built around a single (vacation resort) theme. Mario’s got a water-spraying backpack, a Yoshi pal and a lot of blue coins to collect.
When will Rohit Sharma make his TV debut? India star to feature in entertainment show on Sony
With Rohit Sharma set to appear on Sony TV, here's how you can grab his TV debut live without missing a single moment.
'Joe Dirt' Series In Development At Sony TV, Fox Entertainment
David Spade will reprise Joe Dirt in a Fox animated sequel series that catches up with the cult comedy character 25 years later.
India’s Zee Entertainment quarterly profit falls on weak advertising, higher costs
Aug 10 (Reuters) - India's Zee Entertainment Enterprises reported a 46.9% fall in first-quarter profit on Monday, hurt by weak advertising revenue and higher costs related to its return to sports broadcasting. The company posted a consolidate...
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Sony Will Remain Mum On PlayStation Disc Making Process
While PlayStation seems committed to ending their physical copies, I wouldn’t hold my breath for a massive homebrew scene to fill the void in the immediate future
The Stages Of Grief In Repairing A Trinitron Found In The Trash
Sometimes you see a project just staring at you with proverbial puppy dog eyes and you just cannot look away. In the case of a once rather nice Sony TV it was the smooth 32″ Trinitron CRT tha…
Sony's new portable console will feature full backward compatibility with previous-generation games.
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Sony could release a cheaper version of its WH-1000XM4 headphones, according to leaks
Sony could revive an older headphone model at a cheaper price.
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Sony WH-1000XM4C price and release date leaked
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Sony's Looking to Bring More Ads to PlayStation, and Fans Won't Like It
Push Square for a Taco Bell
Sony’s new PS5 Pro beta update automatically enables PSSR 2.0 for every game
Sony’s latest PS5 system software beta enables PSSR 2.0 by default across all PS5 Pro games, promising sharper visuals and fewer frame-rate drops without requiring manual setup.
Sony Forces PSSR 2.0 On Every PS5 Pro Game, As New Beta Update Flips The Upscaler Toggle On By Default
Sony's new PS5 Pro beta update enables "Enhance PSSR Image Quality" by default to sharpen unpatched games
Sony quietly prepares to bring ads to PlayStation ecosystem as game costs rise
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Sony Music Names Stephanie Yu General Counsel, EVP Business and Legal
Sony Music has named Stephanie Yu General Counsel and Executive Vice President, Business and Legal Affairs. She succeeds longtime GC/EVP Julie Swidler.
Black Ops 1 And 2 Ports Sold 11 Million Copies Combined On PlayStation, Benefitting Both Xbox And Sony
The games did not feature many technical or visual improvements, and that was kinda the whole point.
Sony Music Appoints Stephanie Yu to General Counsel and Executive Vice President, Business and Legal Affairs
Sony Music today announced the appointment of Stephanie Yu to General Counsel and Executive Vice President, Business and Legal Affairs. She reports to Rob Stringer, Chairman, Sony Music Group and Kevin Kelleher, COO, Sony Music. Yu will be responsible for overseeing the business, legal and governmental affairs strategies and activities for the company globally. Stringer […]
Sony Music Appoints Stephanie Yu to General Counsel and Executive Vice President, Business and Legal Affairs
Sony Music today announced the appointment of Stephanie Yu to General Counsel and Executive Vice President, Business and Legal Affairs. She reports to Rob Stringer, Chairman, Sony Music Group and Kevin Kelleher, COO, Sony Music. Yu will be responsible for overseeing the business, legal and governmental affairs strategies and activities for the company globally. Stringer […]
BREAKING: Caryl Atwood Exits Sony Music Entertainment
Caryl Atwood has exited her role as Senior Vice President of Commercial Partnerships at [...]
Xbox 360 Games Are Reportedly Coming To PC As Well
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'Spider-Man: Brand New Day': Sony Entertainment CEO Celebrates Success
Sony Pictures Entertainment CEO and President Ravi Ahuja celebrates the success of the record opening of 'Spider-Man: Brand New Day'
‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ beats ‘Avengers: Endgame’ box office record
“Spider-Man: Brand New Day” has broken the “Avengers: Endgame” record for the biggest North American opening weekend. Sony Pictures says Monday that the film earned $360 million in ticket sales
Fast Track Provides Shareholder Update on IP-Led Growth Strategy and Sony Music Entertainment Malaysia Partnerships Following LAUNCHPAD Media Launch
SINGAPORE, Aug. 03, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- FAST TRACK GROUP (NASDAQ: FTRK) (
Sony Says PS5 Will Still Be More Affordable Than Gaming PCs and Different Enough, Even Without Discs
Sony says the PS5 will remain more affordable than gaming PCs and sufficiently distinct even as PlayStation consoles also become digital-only.
PlayStation Petition Loses Steam Even As Sony Doubles Down on Disc Decision
Sony Interactive Entertainment has not backed down from the decision to scrap discs, but the energy in the debate is already waning.
PlayStations Discs Are the Least of Sony's Problems Right Now
With RAM prices as high as they are, Sony wants to claim its consoles win on affordability.
Today’s Best Deals From IGN: LEGO Yoda Bust, Sony WH-1000XM6 Headphones, and a Bunch of Physical PS5 Games
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Sony acknowledges backlash, will “cautiously” move forward with end of discs
Sony doesn't think the move will hurt it financially.
Sony Will Move Forward With Its Plans To Stop Making PS5 Discs Despite Backlash
Sony responded to widespread criticism of its plan to discontinue games on discs in its latest earnings call.
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Over 80% of PS5 game sold in the last three months were digital copies.
Sony Says PlayStation Disc Backlash Not Making ‘Any Impact’ On Business
In its new earnings report, Sony says that fans upset about PlayStation no longer making new discs in 2028 has not impacted its business so far, and it doesn't expect it to.
Sony Says PlayStation Disc Backlash Not Making ‘Any Impact’ On Business
In its new earnings report, Sony says that fans upset about PlayStation no longer making new discs in 2028 has not impacted its business so far, and it doesn't expect it to.
Sony Heard Backlash Over Dropping PlayStation Discs, Plans to Press Ahead
A month after the initial announcement, Sony says it plans to “cautiously move this forward.”
Sony Pictures Entertainment Sees Revenue Drop 13% In Latest Quarter; Big Gains In Music
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Sony vows to press on with discless plans, saying "digitalization is progressing" across all media despite heavy protest from players
Sony has heard your complaints, but it's done little to move the needle when it comes to PlayStation physical media and discs.