Sony

First the PS5 rises in price by 100 euros and now the lack of chips forces Sony to stop selling SD and CFexpress cards in Japan

by

Buying a computer, a mobile phone or a console is much more expensive today than it was a couple of years ago and the voracious appetite of data centers is to blame for this component crisis: RAM has become more expensivemore of the same for NAND storage (and therefore, of SSDs) and already threatens even to the batteries. And consumer electronics manufacturers are making moves to avoid swallowing the price rise resulting from this imbalance between supply and demand. If we talk about gaming, a couple of days ago Sony threw a bucket of cold water on those who expected its latest console to drop in price over time because it has been the opposite: The PS5 will go up 100 euros in April. But it is not Sony’s only drastic measure: in Japan have announced that stop selling storage cards. When you see your neighbor’s beard cut… NAND memory chip shortage is wreaking havoc If you have tried to buy a memory card in recent months, you will have already realized that prices have gone up a lot for that common little device that we use for photography, gaming or the Raspberry Pi (which also its price has skyrocketed due to the component crisis). Well, Sony has gone one step further and has indefinitely suspended the acceptance of orders for almost all of its line of CFexpress Type A, Type B and SD cardswhether for authorized distributors or those who buy from the Sony Store. The brief Sony Japan statement is blunt: “Due to the global shortage of semiconductors (memory) and other factors, it is expected that supply will not be meet the demand for CFexpress and SD memory cards in the near future. Therefore, we have decided to temporarily suspend the receipt of orders from our authorized dealers and customers in the Sony store from March 27, 2026. As for the resumption of accepting orders, we will study it based on the supply situation and will announce it separately on the product information page.” It is no longer just the temporary suspension, it is that there is no return date and the reality is that the medium-term future looks bleak: it does not seem that this shortage of components will be resolved in the coming months. In fact, the conflict between the United States, Israel and Iran It is bringing other consequences beyond the rise in fuel prices: helium shortageessential in cooling operations in chip manufacturing It is true that this statement is restricted only to Japanbut the shortage is not exclusive to the Asian country: a quick search for SD in the Sony Store in Spain It returns just four models, one moderately affordable 64GB and then three others of 128GB, 256GB and 512GB that cost around 300 euros. One of the most affected models are the TOUGH cards used in professional photography and the entry-level SD cards. What you can buy today on the Sony website About a month ago the CEO of Phison, one of the major suppliers of controllers for SSDs and memory cards, he already warned: If the situation does not improve, this shortage may end the closure of consumer electronics companies completely in 2026. In Xataka | Not content with bursting demand and prices for RAM, AI is already targeting another victim: batteries In Xataka | The current generation of consoles was supposed to be “weak” and the games were expensive. Well: nothing has stopped the PS5 Cover | Xataka

Sony and Honda have canceled Afeela, their first electric car. One more example of China’s triumph where others fail

by

Honda has encountered a wall called the electric car. One that has carried out the development of three of its own electric cars, another that was underway with Sony and that will have an impact on its accounts of about 22.5 billion dollars. The situation, it seems, is not the best. Honda’s jump to the electric car It seemed like an immutable reality just seven years ago. Seven years may seem like a long time but in automotive industry terms it is just the usual jump between two generations of cars. Perhaps that is why the plans, in addition to being immovable, seemed risky. In October 2019, the company announced that From 2022 it would only sell electric cars in Europe. Our continent seemed to be moving towards the electric car under pressure from regulations. Tesla was booming and the companies thought that this was the best path for our market. Today, Honda’s catalog for our country does not have a single electric car. In these years, the Honda e has obtained a very discreet result, victim of a very high price. He e:Ny1, a sort of electric HR-V, is also no longer available after selling an almost negligible number of cars in our country. Along the way, they announced the development of three new electric cars for the US market, all with a groundbreaking and futuristic aesthetic. Also a car that would arrive together with a collaboration with Sony. All of this has been cancelled. The Chinese surprise Much has changed in recent years so that Honda has gone from targeting only the electric market in Europe, developing three new cars with this technology for the United States and another with Sony, to canceling everything. And the company confirmed a few days ago that he reversed his electrical project. First with the cancellation of cars designed only for the American public. The move almost seems logical. The country still does not clearly embrace the electric car and Donald Trump is giving wings to keep every combustion car alive and without any effort. With a country of enormous distances and a charging network that remains insufficientthe electric car continues to have significant pitfalls. This cancellation has had two clear consequences. The first is an impact on Honda’s accounts of more than 20,000 million dollars. How we have the case of Stellantisthis money is not a direct loss, it is the sum of the investments already made, the fines to be paid to suppliers for unfulfilled agreements and the money that is not received from the sales that had been estimated, among other items. The second impact is that Afeela 1 has also been cancelled. This car was born from a collaboration between Sony and Honda. At CES 2023 It was already announced that it would arrive in 2026. Last year, at the same fair, the car was priced for the US market: $89,900 for the “cheap” version and more than $100,000 for the “face.” This year, at CES, we had no news. Less than three months later we know that the project has been canceled because, among other things, it rode the same platform as Honda’s other three electric cars. Once this was cancelled, producing a single car with a single platform was economically unviable. Sony’s car was sold as a leap forward for Hondaa preview of where the market was going to go. The intention was that Honda would provide the hardware and its knowledge making cars, Sony would provide the software and its experience getting the most out of elements such as cameras or sensors. Qualcomm and Epic Games were also supporting the project, the latter company creating an on-demand mobility service for the vehicle. The evolution of the automobile industry has attracted various technology companies. First it was Dyson the company that surprised us by announcing its own electric car. We know that Apple has tried to bring its own car forward and along the way he has left 10,000 million dollars. Microsoft was an investor in Cruise before its closure. Google is making efforts with autonomous cars. This company also wants Android Automotive be an essential part of the future of the electric car. Of all these companies that have been involved in the development of electric cars, all of them have failed. Only Google with Android Automotive seems to be building a long-term ecosystem, which Apple doesn’t seem to be getting it with CarPlay either. We are not talking about companies that supply hardware to automotive companies like Qualcomm or Nvidia, we are talking about companies that also they get involved in the development of a car through their software services or their knowledge to take advantage of that hardware. And, here, China is leading the market. What Sony and Honda intended was to demonstrate that two leading Japanese companies still had enough muscle and knowledge to produce a ground-breaking and competitive electric car. At that time, Xiaomi has built it itself. And Huawei is giving a lesson in China on how to take advantage of these collaborations. Right now, this last company collaborates with Toyota on the latest electric vehicles they have launched for the Chinese market. Its cars have their own ecosystem developed by Huawei that relies on, among other things, the electric motors that Huawei also develops. That is, the Chinese company is in charge of providing its parts and its software knowledge for the ultimate control of them. Huawei and Xiaomi are taking over the operating systems of Chinese electric cars with HarmonyOS and HyperOS. Both companies have extensive experience designing interfaces and digital experiences for the user, an essential service in China to sell electric cars and where Europe, Japan and the United States are still in their infancy, if we compare ourselves to what we see there. Specifically, Huawei has spread its tentacles in the industry until getting its hands on Toyota developments and having cars on the street that will rival Porsche, like the Aistaland GT7sedans that … Read more

Sony is already testing it in the PS Store

by

Since November 2025, Sony is carrying out in relative silence an experiment with the final prices of your games– Different users see different prices for the same game on the PlayStation Store. What started with 50 titles in 30 regions now covers more than 150 games in 68 countries. At the moment, the company continues to say nothing on the subject. Crazy prices. The first sign came when a Reddit user He noticed that his wife saw a lower price than his for the same game on the PlayStation Store. The gap was too large to be a rounding error by region. No one knew if it was a technical failure or something deliberate, until Pspricesa website that monitors PlayStation Store price history in more than 50 regions, found the answer in Sony’s own infrastructure: identifiers embedded in the store’s API responses, with labels like IPT_PILOT and IPT_OPR_TESTING. We are facing a controlled test. How testing works. Sony randomly assigns users to a control group or a test group. Those in the test group see different prices. According to the data collected by the site, all experimental prices detected so far are lower than the official price, with discounts ranging between 5.3% and 17.6%. ‘WWE 2K25’ is listed at €61.82 for some compared to the standard €74.99. ‘God of War Ragnarök’ and ‘Marvel’s Spider-Man 2’ drop from €79.99 to €69.99 for certain users. ‘Astro Bot’, from €69.99 to €61.16. There are extreme cases like ‘Helldivers 2’, which reached a 56% discount. What Sony measures is the price elasticity of demand: to what extent price determines the purchase decision of each user profile. Evolution of the experiment. The program began in November 2025 with about 50 games in approximately 30 regions. Three months later, according to Psprices data, it covers more than 150 titles in 68 regions including Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Latin America and Africa. The expansion itself is already a sign that the test is yielding data that interests Sony, and it is striking that the company has included its own AAA franchises in the experiment, such as the aforementioned games. It means that Sony considers it necessary to measure price sensitivity even in games where demand seemed guaranteed. Two territories (the United States and Japan) are outside the experiment, and the possible cause is stricter regulation and greater market sensitivity in both countries. Why now. A look at Sony’s financial context may shed some light on why this decision has been made. According to the company financial report Through December 2025, PS5 shipments fell 15.7% year-over-year in the Christmas quarter, with hardware revenue down 15.1%. CFO Lin Tao spoke of “monetizing the console installed base” as a priority. With 80% of software sales already in digital format, it is important to find a way to boost PlayStation Store sales. That store also operates without the competitive pressures of PC (market that Sony seems to be abandoning), where the user can buy the same game at different prices on Steam, GOG or many other stores. On PlayStation, the ecosystem is closed: there are no authorized third-party distributors, there are no game codes in physical stores as is the case with Xbox and Nintendo. If Sony controls the discounts and customizes them per user, whoever wants that game on PS5 only has one way to access it. The terror of dynamic pricing. To the user These types of policies do not suit him well. Airlines, hotels, vacation rental platforms or mobility services like Uber adjust rates in real time according to demand, time or area. The controversy has reached the world of concert tickets, with demands included. In video games, there is also an extra issue: on a plane, a hotel or a concert venue there is a real limitation on the tickets that can be sold. The inventory of a digital game is, by definition, unlimited. What Sony is going to do is called in economics “first degree price discrimination“and that is what has generated the main user complaints. Although there are no official statements about Sony’s plans, the truth is that the company, for the moment, has not raised prices above the official RRP, but rather has offered discounts based on various criteria that have not yet been revealed. Some bets: Users with less purchasing history could receive greater incentives to encourage them to spend. Thus, the question remains whether we are dealing with a discount for those who do not usually buy or a premium for those who usually do. If the promotion escalates, we’ll eventually find out. In Xataka | Playstation 6: all the information we know (or think we know) so far

Sony closes its games to PC and Capcom confirms that half of its sales come from there. A contradiction with a reason: Playstation 6

by

Sony has decided that titles like ‘Ghost of Yotei’ will not come to PC, ending six years of multiplatform strategy. The twist is striking for the moment: Capcom has just confirmed that 50% of its sales already come from the PCand expects that number to continue growing. Two giants of the industry from Japan, two radically opposite bets on where the future of the business lies. The breakup. After weeks of rumors in that direction, Bloomberg confirmed that Sony has canceled plans to bring its big single-player exclusives to PC. TO ‘Ghost of Yotei‘, one of the most celebrated PlayStation releases in 2025, are joined by ‘Saro’, the next Housemarque game. The multiplatform experiment that Sony started in 2020 with ‘Horizon Zero Dawn‘It has lasted six years. The withdrawal is not total. According to sources consulted by Bloomberg, games as a service (the imminent ‘Marathon’, ‘Marvel Tokon’ or ‘Horizon: Hunter’s Gathering’) will maintain a multi-platform launch, because their business model depends on building player bases as wide as possible. ‘Death Stranding 2: On the Beach’ and ‘Kena: Scars of Kosmora’ will continue to be ported to PC this year, as they are titles from third-party developers published under the PlayStation umbrella. Calm rhythm. Sony’s release rate on Steam was never that of a furious competitor: the titles arrived between one and three years after their console debut, which meant that the ports had to compete against previous versions that had already suffered price discounts, to which was added the incessant pace of new releases for PC. These are some of the reasons why Sony may the bills didn’t work out: ‘Ghost of Tsushima’ reached a peak of 77,000 simultaneous players, but ‘Horizon Forbidden West’ and ‘The Last of Us Part II Remastered’ did not exceed 40,000 and 30,000 respectively. To retreat. This leaves some decisions made by Sony recently up in the air: in 2021 acquired Nixxes Softwarea Dutch studio specialized in porting games to PC (‘Tomb Raider’ trilogy, ‘Deus Ex: Mankind Divided’), and it is not clear what its future will be with this new strategy. Furthermore, on the 19th Bluepoint Games closedthe studio responsible for the remakes of ‘Demon’s Souls’ and ‘Shadow of the Colossus’, with around 70 employees affected. Sony think tank CEO Hermen Hulst spoke internally of an “increasingly challenging industry environment”, with rising development costs and slowing growth. Bluepoint had been working on a ‘God of War’ project in the form of a game as a service. Print money. In February 2025, Shuhei Yoshida, former president of PlayStation Studios, described the strategy of bringing games to Steam as something which is similar to “printing money” because the cost of a port is only a fraction of that of developing an original game. Why the change in strategy? PC numbers weren’t bad in absolute terms: Sony’s five best-selling titles on Steam together they surpassed 43 million copies and generated more than $1.2 billion in gross revenue for the company. The problem may well be the value they subtract from the hardware: they generate income but not a loyalty to the ecosystembecause a PC gamer does not need to buy a Playstation console. In the end, as Bloomberg pointed out, PC ports represent less than 2% of Sony’s total annual revenue. And there is something else: apparentlythere is a real concern about the design of the next xboxwhose architecture is closer to a Windows PC than to a conventional console, with the possibility of supporting multiple stores, including Steam. The PlayStation exclusives available on Steam could run perfectly on an Xbox, which would make Sony investing money to literally benefit its most direct competitor. Capcom prefers the PC. A day before Bloomberg published Sony’s new policy, Capcom released the Q&A transcript of its fiscal third-quarter results. An investor asked about the PC strategy regarding ‘Resident Evil Requiem‘ and its technical commitment to that platform. The company’s response was that the PC already represents approximately 50% of the total units sold for Capcom, and the internal expectation is that that figure will continue to grow. Already in October 2021, the company’s COO Haruhiro Tsujimoto stated in an interview that the company’s goal was that the PC became its main platform and that the proportion of sales between console and PC will reach 50-50 in 2022 or 2023. The prediction has been fulfilled with only a couple of years of delay. Revenue generated via Steam grew by 61.1% between April 2024 and March 2025 and in that same period PlayStation’s share of Capcom’s total revenue fell below 10%. The differences. Of course, there are differences to take into account between Capcom and Sony. Capcom has no hardware to sell, and its only incentive is to maximize the distribution of its software catalog across all platforms. Sony, on the other hand, manages a complete ecosystem that includes a console, digital store, subscription and accessories, and each decision has to be measured not only in direct sales of that title but in the impact on the value of the hardware and loyalty to the ecosystem. They are different business structures. Things that happen. All this happens the same year that Valve announces its new Steam Machine, in which the ROG Ally with branding from xbox It corroborates after the Steam Deck that the power of PC hardware can reach the living room, and that Microsoft officially embraces the idea that its games do not need an Xbox to be played. What justifies buying a dedicated console in 2026? Sony clearly focuses its sights on the most successful name in the industry at the moment: Nintendo. If you have to sell hardware, the key is exclusivity and making your object essential. It only remains to be seen if Playstation 6 will be so essential. In Xataka | Playstation 6: all the information we know (or think we know) so far

Sony WF-1000XM6 vs AirPods Pro 3. Which Bluetooth headphones to choose based on your tastes and needs

by

Buying good Bluetooth headphones can be a daunting task. There are many models from different brands, so it is difficult to choose if we are not clear about what each one offers. Now that the Sony WF-1000XM6What better than to put them face to face with the AirPods Pro 3 from Apple. Let’s see what their most important differences. The differences between the Sony WF-1000XM6 and the AirPods Pro 3 A clearly differential design Do you like stick or earbud headphones better? Not all people are attracted to the same design, so here we find the first big difference: the Sony WF-1000XM6 have a button design, while the AirPods Pro 3 have a stick format. In this way, they maintain the design of their respective previous generations. In any case, beyond personal tastes, we find two models of comfortable headphoneswhich are designed to be used for hours without fatigue. Both come with their respective pads, which allows us to have a better fit in the ear. Of course, while Sony headphones come with four ear pads, in Apple headphones we find five. The sound section This point is one of the most important, especially due to the compatibility of some technologies. The Sony WF-1000XM6 supports LDACa codec that offers wireless streaming of music in high resolution and that we find in a wide variety of Android devices. The AirPods Pro 3 take another path, betting on technologies such as spatial audiobut here we must take into account that Can only be used with compatible devices. That is, if you have an iPhone you can enjoy the immersion that this technology gives. If you have an Android phone, it needs to be compatible with Dolby Atmos and used in apps like Apple Music. Extras If you were planning to use any of the headphones anywhere… be careful. AirPods Pro 3 offer resistance against dust and water immersion (IP57), but the Sony WF-1000XM6 only resist water jets (IPX4). Not that with normal use this is a big difference, but you have to take it into account if you want to use them on the beach or near a pool. We also find other differences between both headphones, such as the heart rate sensor that the AirPods Pro 3 incorporate. This is a sensor that we normally see in smartwatches, but that Apple has decided to introduce in these headphones and that works really well. Yeah you usually playing sports and you don’t have an Apple Watch, it can be very attractive. How much do headphones cost? Both TWS Bluetooth headphones are high-end, so they are not particularly cheap. However, Apple’s have been on the market for a while and can be found cheaper. Right now, the AirPods Pro 3 They have a price on Amazon of 229 euroswhile the Sony WF-1000XM6 They have an official price of 299 euros. There are 70 euros difference. In summary: which Bluetooth headphones to choose according to your tastes and needs. Why choose the Sony WF-1000XM6 The Sony WF-1000XM6 have improved compared to the previous generation, and where they stand out the most is in: LDAC support: If you have a device that supports high-quality audio, these headphones can be very attractive due to their LDAC codec. Device Compatibility. Unlike the AirPods Pro 3, where some functions are exclusive to its ecosystem, you can squeeze the technologies and functions of these headphones into almost any device. Very well resolved active noise cancellation. Sony has once again launched headphones with impressive adaptive noise cancellation on the market. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Why choose AirPods Pro 3 The AirPods Pro 3 are a very good purchase choice, especially now that they can be found somewhat cheaper. Where they stand out the most is in: Spatial Audio support. This technology allows you to listen to music as if it were coming from any direction, which offers great immersion. Your heart rate sensor. This addition that Apple has introduced can be very attractive for sports activities. Its price. The 70 euros difference in the price of both headphones is quite large. If you have an iPhone. AirPods Pro 3 are designed to be used with an iPhone or other Apple device, so you can enjoy features such as spatial audio and adaptive audio. Very good active noise cancellation. They offer better active noise cancellation than their previous generation, and it shows. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links In summary: 👉 Choose The Sony WF-1000XM6 yes: You are looking for headphones that support the LDAC codec or have a button design. 👉 Choose AirPods Pro 3 Yeah: You have an iPhone, you’re looking to make use of everything headphones offer, or you want a stick design. Technical sheet with the main differences between the Sony WF-1000XM6 and the AirPods Pro 3 Sony WF-1000XM6 AirPods Pro 3 SOUND LDAC support Hi-Res Audio DSEE Extreme DAC + ASP 32 bit Spatial audio Adaptive Audio Conversation detection Adaptive EQ pressure compensation AUTONOMY Up to 8 hours with ANC, 12 hours without ANC Up to 24 hours with charging case Up to 8 hours with active cancellation Up to 7.5 hours with spatial audio and dynamic tracking Up to 6.7 hours with heart rate measurement Up to 24 hours with charging case Autonomy Charging via USB-C cableQi Wireless Face Charging via USB-C cable Wireless charging: MagSafe and Apple Watch charger Extras Active noise cancellation IPX4 certification Position detection gesture control Active noise cancellation IP57 certification Heart rate sensor Price 299 euros 229 euros The price could vary. We earn commission from these links The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Some of the links in this article are affiliated and may provide a benefit to Xataka. In case of non-availability, offers may vary. Image | Ruben Andres, Pedro Aznar in Applesfera, Sony, Apple In Xataka | AirPods Pro 3 vs AirPods Pro 2. Which Apple Bluetooth headphones to choose based on … Read more

now Sony has decided to close the chapter on its home recorders

by

The decline of physical media is a reality, but it has not come suddenly or with a single announcement, but rather as a succession of small withdrawals that, added together, mark a change of era. Streaming is gaining ground while discs, players and other devices continue to be present in an increasingly smaller background. Some recent decisions within the industry are only deepening this transformation. Another company taking a step back. Sony recently announced that from February it will progressively cease shipping all its models of Blu-ray recorders and confirmed that there will not be a subsequent generation to take over. The message identifies as part of the closure devices marketed between 2023 and 2024, including the BDZ-ZW1900 and the BDZ-FBT4200, FBT2200 and FBW2200 families. A very Japanese category. Unlike other markets where Blu-ray was mainly associated with movie playback, in Japan home recorders maintained a very specific function for years, that of recording television broadcasts for later viewing. This particularity explains why the announcement has a direct impact, especially on local consumption, where these devices were still present in many salons. However, its disappearance also functions as a symbolic sign of the extent to which even the most resistant niches begin to lose meaning when content access habits change. The temporal sequence. Kyodo News notes that the last units will be shipped this month, marking the effective end of its commercial presence. That moment comes after another less visible previous step: the company had already stopped manufacturing both the recorders themselves as of recordable discs approximately a year earlierand the remaining activity was limited to completing the product output. Streaming, and something else. The audiovisual consumption environment has changed to the point of reducing the practicality of devices that were everyday items for years. When broadcasts can be viewed at any time from online platforms, whether global services or on-demand catalogs from the networks themselves, recording them is no longer a central need. Fewer and fewer manufacturers. Sony’s movement does not appear isolated within the industry. In recent years, several relevant players have been abandoning the consumer Blu-ray market, progressively reducing the number of companies willing to support this category. Oppo completely left its player business in 2018, Samsung stopped manufacturing Blu-ray and UHD models around 2019and LG, which was still one of the big names present, ended production in 2024. The closure of these recorders does not equate to the immediate disappearance of Blu-ray as a consumer format either. Different elements of the ecosystem remain active, from home players to computer optical drives and disk catalogs maintained by other companies. This persistence, although increasingly linked to specific audiences, shows that the transition towards digital does not erase previous technologies at once. Images | Sony | Mateus Andre In Xataka | If the question is how much technology can be packed into a collector’s figure, the answer is: these robots

What is relevant is how Sony has gotten here

by

92 million PS5 sent to stores. The console sales race is something that matters more to shareholders than to users, but it is still a good thermometer of the state of the video game industry. Nintendo was the first to reveal its cards: 155.37 million Switches marketed until December 2025. It is only below the historic PS2. And, since we’re talking about Sony, in its latest report They have reported those 92 million PS5 units shipped. It’s quite an achievement. Especially because of how they have reached that figure which, to contextualize, makes the PS5 the eighth best-selling console in history. First crisis. Things didn’t start well for Sony’s home console. Not for Xbox either, but here Microsoft has been extremely opaque with its units sold for two generations. The two consoles arrived in December 2020, with COVID looming at the doors, games at 80 euros and a historic semiconductor crisis. Not like the current one, with components at stratospheric prices due to the rise of AI: In 2020 and 2021, there were no chips. The PS5 reached 499.99 euros in its version with reader and 399.99 in its digital version at an extremely delicate moment because stock ran out as soon as it went on sale. This caused a boom in the sale of consoles. second hand at exorbitant pricesand the situation remained for much of 2022. When the situation began to ease, the company itself pointed out that had been able to produce fewer consoles than I had planned. Second crisis. In the end, by mid-to-late 2022, things went smoothly. The chip crisis is over, the price rise(s) crisis began. Until this generation, we were used to the fact that, as the life cycle progressed, the consoles were dropping in price and improving performance. They became smaller, quieter and cheaper because the components could be miniaturized and the costs had been amortized. It was a win-win: it was cheaper for the company to produce it, they lowered the price and could get a better margin and market presence. But in August 2025, PS5 went up in price. The version with reader went from 499.99 euros to 549.99 euros and the digital version from 399.99 euros to 449.99 euros. They sold it as the fruit of “the lofty global inflation rates“and the “adverse monetary trends”. It was not the only time: in mid-2025, they rose again. In this case, only the digital one, another 50 euros to reach 499.99 euros. Xbox has not been immune to this and it is the first time that lConsoles are cheaper when they come out than when they have been on the market for five years. Competence. Now, whether the PS5 has been rising in price and has continued to sell depends on several factors. A very important one is that it has no competition at the table. At least, not as it was in the seventh generation – that of PS3 and Xbox 360-. The disastrous presentation of Xbox One at E3 2013 It caused Sony to win, on the street, the eighth generation with its PS4, and that trend has continued over the years. Xbox has been launching everything on PC for years, now also on PS5 and, although Sony is also in that boat, it does not launch. That is, a ‘The Last of Us 2‘doesn’t come out on the same day on PS5 and PC. Now, the PC. Different reputable voices within the industry suggest that the PC, increasingly, it is the platform of the future. It is no longer just the price advantage of digital stores like GOG or Steam, but the catalog itself, the result of Sony and Microsoft launching their console games on PC. If “everything” is going to be on PC, the PC becomes the most interesting platform. Well, that’s the theory, since There is the market for RAM and SSDs to build a PC. But you can always buy the game and play at the highest quality with services like GeForce Now. Time. Mobile phones are also competition, with games that are increasingly cutting edge visually and with mechanics that hijack our time. And there is another key in the competition: PS5 does not compete only against Xbox, Switch 2 or the PC: compete against YouTube, Instagram, TikTok or Netflix. Different voices in the entertainment industry have pointed out that they are no longer competing against their rivals in the same segment, but against anything that consumes our time. Have a limited capacity for leisure, and everyone wants to get our attention those daily minutes that we are not working, eating, sleeping or, hopefully, socializing. lazy generation. It may be one of the most complicated generations in history for console manufacturers, and added to all this, there is another factor that makes those 92 million PS5 sold even more notable: the catalog. video games They are increasingly expensive to produce and they are taking longer and longer to hit the market. These very long development cycles mean that big releases take years to come out, and that causes a lack of big titles that justify the purchase of a console. ‘GTA VI’ is an example. It has been in development for almost a decade and we will find out how much it has cost, but it is not the only one. The parents of ‘uncharted‘ either ‘The Last of Us‘They have not released any exclusive games for PS5 this generation and, speaking of exclusives, because the PS4 continued to have a brutal implementation in the market, Sony has continued to release games on both PS5 and PS4. For a handful of exclusives, a user might not see the point in making the leap to the new generation when Sony was still releasing games for its 2013 PS4. Shielding yourself before GTA VI. Taking all this into account, and as we say, it is an achievement that Sony has managed to place 92 million consoles on the market up to this point. In the … Read more

After invading the development of video games, AI enters an untouchable area with a Sony patent: the player himself

by

Sony has registered a patent that proposes a future where video games can complete themselves. The document, presented in September 2024 and released this weekdescribes a system of “artificial intelligence ghosts” capable of actively intervening in PlayStation games. These virtual agents would go beyond traditional guides: they would not only show how to overcome obstacles, but they could directly take control and solve entire levels while the player watches. How it works. The patent details an assistance system with several levels of intervention. For example, “Guide Mode” would allow the ghost to show the solution to a specific problem, such as solving a puzzle or executing a precise sequence of commands, but it would have to be completed by the player. “Complete Mode”, on the other hand, would hand over total control to the artificial agent, which would overcome the obstacle autonomously. More modes. The registration document describes four modes Selectable additional features: Story Mode, Combat Mode, Exploration Mode and Full Game Mode, suggesting specialization in certain tasks, depending on the type of challenge presented to the player. The system would function as a layer superimposed on the user’s character, visible on the screen as a visual reference. In some cases, this digital ghost could even hold conversations with the player’s avatar to offer contextualized instructions. What does it feed on? The technology would be fueled by recordings of previous games, including content shared on YouTube and social networks. The original patent document justifies the need to access these videos by stating that “players can research the game or search for previous gameplay on Internet sites, but that process is time-consuming.” Help systems. Player aids have come a long way. In the ’90s, players who got stuck called support lines (Nintendo’s being especially popular) or consulted guides in magazines, full of maps and secrets. The web democratized access through databases such as GameFAQs and, later, through audiovisual content on YouTube that allowed step-by-step solutions to be seen. In fact, Playstation 5 already incorporates Game Helpa system that displays clips of other users overcoming specific sections of the game. Its application, however, leaves something to be desired. Microsoft, of course, is betting on Copilot in the form of a conversational assistant that answers questions about the game. The proposal for artificial ghosts goes one step further, going from pre-recorded content to direct intervention in the game. AI in industry. The artificial intelligence integration video game development is accelerating. In 2024Unity revealed that 62% of studios that were using its tools implemented AI in some phase of production, highlighting animation as the main application. A survey from the Game Developers Conference of the same year indicates that approximately a third of professionals in the sector were already using these technologies. Data from the Tokyo Games Show raised the figure to more than half of Japanese companies. The automation of gameplay It’s not new either. Kotaku mentions in its article successful titles such as ‘Vampire Survivors’, with semi-automatic mechanics; ‘Megabonk’, nominated for the Game Awards for its automated design; or, in general, all idle subgenrewhich has such popular examples as ‘Ball X Pit’. The debate. This technology poses a dilemma: on the one hand, it would allow more players to enjoy complex content and prevent abandonment due to frustration. It would be integrated into the accessibility options (difficulty settings, control remapping, color blind modes), without forcing anyone to use it. On the other hand… do we run the risk of losing the “challenge” of games by delegating our participation to AI agents? What’s the point of playing then? And of course, it raises multiple questions in multiplayer environments, where there will be a temptation to take credit for victories achieved by the ghost. In Xataka | The new “test” to discover whether or not an AI model is truly intelligent: play Pokémon

The Samsung Galaxy S25 at an irresistible price, highly discounted Apple and Sony headphones and more offers, Bargain Hunting

by

After Black Friday, the good deals have not ended and stores like MediaMarkt or El Corte Inglés are launching quite large discounts on a wide range of devices. In the new Bargain Hunting we are going to review the best bargains we have been finding all week and they are still available. Google Pixel 10 Pro by 764.15 euros when you add it to the cart, with one of the best prices we have seen to date. AirPods Pro 2 by 169 euros When you add it to the cart, a much tighter price on Apple headphones. Fire TV Stick 4K Select by 19.90 euroswith the same price that we saw during Black Friday. Samsung Galaxy S25 by 764.10 euros when registering in the store, a gem for the high-end mobile. Sony WH-1000XM5 by 194.65 eurosthe best price we have seen since Black Friday. Google Pixel 10 Pro He Google Pixel 10 Pro has been receiving offers in recent weeks and El Corte Inglés right now has one of the best. Through your Private Salewhich can be accessed by registering in the store and adding the product to the cart (important to see the total discount), remains for 764.15 euros. It is a 6.3-inch mobile that It stands out above all in its camera configurationin its operating system and in its design. Google Pixel 10 Pro (128GB) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links AirPods Pro 2 If you had thought about buying some good Bluetooth headphones this Christmas, be careful with this offer from El Corte Inglés during its Private Sale. The AirPods Pro 2 they stay for 169 euros. We are talking about TWS headphones with a very good noise cancellation that offer an autonomy of up to 30 hours with the charging case. In addition, it is the version with a USB-C port and not Lightning. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Fire TV Stick 4K Select Amazon has decided to launch the same offer that we saw from Fire TV Stick 4K Selectthe latest model it has launched, during Black Friday, so right now it can be purchased for 19.90 euros. This is a very reasonable price for a device that can play content in 4K. Of course, your operating system will be Vega OS and is not compatible with the formats Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision; it is important to take it into account depending on whether the television to which we want to connect it is also compatible with these technologies or not. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Samsung Galaxy S25 If you are not convinced by the Google mobile, for a similar price we have reduced the Samsung Galaxy S25 in your 512 GB configuration. If we register with MediaMarkt, an additional discount is automatically added that leaves it for 764.10 euros. It is an excellent mobile phone that has good software and a very powerful processor. Samsung Galaxy S25 (512GB) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Sony WH-1000XM5 During Black Friday we saw one of the best prices in the Sony WH-1000XM5 (in its version with soft case). Now, El Corte Inglés has it on offer through its Private Sale for 194.65 euros (in version with hard case). They are very comfortable Bluetooth headphones that offer excellent audio quality and that They have some of the best noise cancellation we’ve tested. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Some of the links in this article are affiliated and may provide a benefit to Xataka. In case of non-availability, offers may vary. Images | Google, Apple, Amazon, Samsung, Sony In Xataka | The best mobile phones (2025), we have tested them and here are their analyzes In Xataka | Best wireless headphones. Which one to buy and 21 models from 15 euros to 470 euros

New Sony Alpha 7V, features, price and technical sheet

by

Taking photos with your cell phone is fine. It’s very good, in fact. Today we can find devices capable of achieving spectacular results, from the Huawei Pura 80 Ultra until the iPhone 17 Propassing through OPPO Find X9 Pro with its curious teleconverter kit designed to further squeeze its capabilities. But, despite the fact that the mobile phone reigns in everyday life, the world of cameras is still far from having thrown in the towel. Firms like Sony continue to promote the sector with increasingly powerful, more versatile equipment and with a growing integration of artificial intelligence. The latest proof of this has its own name: Sony Alpha 7V. This new full-frame mirrorless reaches its fifth generation with a solid track record behind it and a well-earned reputation among advanced hobbyists and professionals. It is just that type of camera that many have chosen—and would continue to choose—when they are looking for performance that borders on professional, versatility that gives room for growth, and a price that does not go into the territory of the more specialized or iconic models of the Japanese brand. Technical data sheet of the Sony Alpha 7V Sony Alpha 7V CAMERA TYPE Digital camera with interchangeable lens Lens mount E-mount sensor 35mm full-frame Exmor RS CMOS sensor (35.9 x 23.9mm) NUMBER OF PIXELS Approx. 35.7MP NUMBER OF PIXELS (EFFECTIVE) Photographs: approx. 33.0MP max Videos: approx. 27.6MP max FOCUS POINT Photographs: max. 759 points (phase detection autofocus), movies: max. 759 points (phase detection autofocus) COLOR TEMPERATURE RANGE 2500K-9900K RECORDING FORMAT JPEG (DCF ver. 2.0, Exif ver. 2.32, MPF Baseline compatible), HEIF (MPEG-A MIAF compatible), RAW (Sony ARW 6.0 format compatible) IMAGE SIZE (PIXELS) (3:2) 35mm Full Frame L: 7008 x 4672 (33M), M: 4608 x 3072 (14M), S: 3504 x 2336 (8.2M) VIDEO COMPRESSION XAVC S: MPEG-4 AVC/H.264, XAVC HS: MPEG-H HEVC/H.265 AUDIO RECORDING FORMAT 2-channel LPCM (48 kHz, 16-bit), 2-channel LPCM (48 kHz, 24-bit), 4-channel LPCM (48 kHz, 24-bit) Battery life (photos) 630 shots approx. (viewfinder) / 750 shots approx. (LCD monitor) (CIPA standard) ISO SENSITIVITY Stills: ISO 100-51200, (expandable to ISO 50-204800), AUTO (ISO 100-12800, lower and upper limits selectable); videos: equivalence with ISO 100-5120066 (expandable to ISO 100-102400), AUTO (ISO 100-12800, lower and upper limits selectable) memory card slot SLOT 1: SD memory card multi-slot (UHS-I/II compatible)/CFexpress 2 Type A, SLOT 2: SD memory card (UHS-I/II compatible) monitor 8.0cm TFT screen (type 3.2) price Body: 2,999 euros (available at the end of December) FE 28-70MM F3.5-5.6 OSS II lens: approximately 479 (available February 2026) A full-frame to sit in the range. The Alpha 7V takes over from the Alpha 7 IVthat camera presented in 2021 that for years served as a reference in Sony’s upper mid-range. This new model is clearly positioned as “entry-level professional”, one step below the Alpha A7R V, A1 II and A9 IIIbut inheriting a good part of its key technologies. At this intermediate point in the catalogue, it competes directly with proposals from the same segment such as Nikon Z6 III and the Canon EOS R6 Mark III. New sensor, new brain. Sony uses here a partially stacked Exmor RS CMOS of about 33 MP, accompanied by the BIONZ XR2 processor with a dedicated AI unit, an architecture that the company debuted in 2022 with the Alpha 7R V as the first Alpha camera with a specific processor for AI-based recognition. This set allows for a more accurate interpretation of the scene and improves the speed with which the camera processes each frame. In practice, it represents a clear leap over the Alpha 7 IV, especially in situations where response and recognition make the difference. Click to see sample images on the Sony page Click to see sample images on the Sony page Real-time recognition taken further. The manufacturer claims that the Alpha 7V improves real-time eye recognition AF performance by up to 30% compared to the Alpha 7 IV, according to its own internal measurements. Its 759 phase detection points and 94% frame coverage allow you to maintain focus even with irregular movements or low light situations, with a performance that drops to EV -4.0. All of this contributes to more stable monitoring and better focus decisions. The Alpha 7V also advances image quality thanks to a dynamic range of up to 16 stops when using the mechanical shutter, designed to preserve detail in both bright lights and deep shadows. The new AI-based automatic white balance analyzes the scene and estimates the light source more accurately, delivering more coherent and natural colors. Added to this is the high-resolution RAW processing available in Imaging Edge Desktop, an option that expands flexibility in post-production without compromising sharpness or captured information. Designed not to miss the moment. Thanks to a sensor readout that is approximately 4.5 times faster than the Alpha 7 IV and 60 AF/AE calculations per second, the Alpha 7V can handle highly dynamic scenes with greater stability. The burst reaches 30 fps through the electronic shutter with AF/AE tracking, avoiding interruptions even in irregular movements. In addition, the Pre-Capture function records up to 1 second before shooting, a useful support in unpredictable situations such as wildlife or sports. 4K for hybrid creators. Sony adds more flexibility in video with the arrival of 4K 60p upsampled from 7K in full format and 4K 120p in APS-C/Super 35. Pixel binning-free readout improves the level of detail and dynamic active mode reinforces stability when recording without support. The camera maintains subject framing using AI and adjusts audio with noise reduction and an internal microphone designed to limit constant background sounds and preserve a natural tone. A continuous body, a more polished use. The Alpha 7V maintains the design of the previous generation, with a practically identical chassis to the Alpha 7 IV and the same combination slot configuration, SD UHS-II and CFexpress Type A/SD. The improvements focus on the user experience: 4-axis multi-angle screen, Wi-Fi 6E connectivity, dual USB-C and a revised handle to gain stability and comfort. The … Read more

Log In

Forgot password?

Forgot password?

Enter your account data and we will send you a link to reset your password.

Your password reset link appears to be invalid or expired.

Log in

Privacy Policy

Add to Collection

No Collections

Here you'll find all collections you've created before.