Among US gamers, PlayStation Now and Xbox Game Pass are the most popular video game subscription services, used by 21% and 18% of those ages 18 and older, respectively.

The news: Sony plans to introduce a video game subscription service this June in order to boost sales of its PlayStation consoles, the company said Tuesday. It will combine its existing PlayStation Plus and PlayStation Now subscription services into a single PlayStation Plus subscription service, which will be offered in three tiers.

PlayStation Plus, at $25 for three months. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, at $45 for three months. EA Play, bundled with the Xbox perk, at $15. Mana is also offering rewards to people who sign up for the waitlist, at seven levels, with points and tickets to win prizes. Why this could succeed: Mana appears to have studied its target audience in depth.

Sony PlayStation VR ($300). Pros: It’s designed to work with various PS4 games and is generally affordable. Cons: PS4 is being discontinued, as is PlayStation VR. The challenge: Sony, like rival Microsoft, doesn’t see VR headsets as key components to the future of its gaming consoles. Only tiny fractions of its game libraries have any VR content. HTC Valve’s Index VR ($1,000).

Sony stressed that Bungie will remain independent and will play to its strengths as a creator of cross-platform games playable on PlayStation, Microsoft’s Xbox, and gaming PCs.

Sony PlayStation VR ($300). Pros: Designed to work with various PS4 games, generally affordable. Cons: PS4 is being discontinued, as is PlayStation VR. The challenge: Sony, like rival Microsoft, doesn’t see VR headsets as key components to the future of its gaming consoles. Only tiny fractions of its game libraries have any VR content. HTC Valve’s Index VR ($1,000).

The Samsung Gaming Hub will make switching between video games and other functions relatively easy by supporting both Xbox and PlayStation controllers at launch, per The Verge. It also won’t require users to pair their controllers every time when switching between devices.

Sony found itself under an unfortunate spotlight after an internal email from PlayStation president Jim Ryan asked employees to “respect differences of opinion” on abortion before writing about his pets’ birthday parties, per Bloomberg—a stark difference from its newly acquired Bungie, which called the ruling an “attack on human rights.”.

Sony cut its PlayStation 5 fiscal year forecast to about 18 million units from its previous estimate of 22.6 million due to supply chain complications. Under Armour said lockdown disruptions contributed to its Asia-Pacific revenues falling 14% in the quarter, as well as affected transportation, which caused delivery delays.

Between November and December, Nestlé Toll House (+5.8%), PlayStation (+5.1%), Nintendo (+4.8%) Cheetos (+4.6%), and Sprite (+4.0%) lead all other brands in attracting new customers. What did people buy from Amazon? Kindle books, gift cards, pet food, shoes, and nutritional supplements are just a few of the top categories purchased during last year’s holiday season.

This is good news for Microsoft, which spent the last console generation lagging behind Sony’s Playstation 4, but bad news for Sony and competitors like Nintendo, which may have just lost access to some of the top-selling franchises of all time.

There’s also the rise of cloud gaming services like PlayStation Now and Amazon Luna, which offer the same type of controller-based gaming experience without the need for a console. Most of these services are still nascent, but there is a good deal of interest in this type of gaming.

The sales growth can likely be attributed to two things: Facebook’s much-discussed rebrand to Meta in Q4 and shortages of popular video game consoles, including Nintendo OLED Switch and Sony’s Playstation 5.

Spotify was No. 8, and gaming companies Nintendo and PlayStation rounded out the top 10 (Morning Consult, August 2020). Several streaming media brands had a stronger showing than many high-profile technology, retail, sportswear, and food or drink brands (Morning Consult). Our Take:.

PlayStation chief Jim Ryan criticized Activision Blizzard in a letter addressed to staff Wednesday morning, writing that the embattled company “has not done enough to address a deep-seated culture of discrimination and harassment.”.

According to Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan in an interview with GQ Magazine, finding PlayStation 5s in stock isn’t set to get any easier and could even affect Christmas sales this year. A mix of Brexit-, pandemic-, and semiconductor supply-related issues contrived to cause this.