Sony is pushing PS5 hardware, a reorganized State of Play schedule, and a GungHo alliance through Sony Music Entertainment Japan, while Bungie delays Marathon and Kojima Productions moves PHYSINT to Xbox. SIE has published a Japan customer harassment policy and released an 'Only On PS5' video without an official exclusivity statement.
Sony Interactive Entertainment spent September setting the PS5's immediate slate. A September 3 State of Play double feature announced Until Dawn 2 for January 28, 2027, a Grand Theft Auto VI DualSense controller with no date or price, and a detailed look at Final Fantasy VII Revelation ahead of Tokyo Game Show 2026. Sony also confirmed a new PULSE Wireless Headset for the 2026 holiday season and a PULSE Edge for early 2027, with no prices or reservation dates, and cut the PULSE Explore earbuds to 22,980 yen effective September 15. At TGS, PlayStation Plus subscribers could reserve trial slots for Monster Hunter Wilds: Ascendance, FINAL FANTASY VII REVELATION, Marvel's Wolverine, and ACE COMBAT 8, while the booth hosted a Grand Theft Auto VI trailer theater.
The publisher side shifted. Bungie delayed a Marathon update from September 22 to the December 8 Symbiosis update and said it will stop tying major updates to fixed season deadlines. Kojima Productions announced on September 10 that PHYSINT will be published with Xbox after PlayStation Studios ended the partnership; release date and price are undecided. Sony's August PS Store rankings put Beast of Reincarnation first on PS5, while Beat Saber led PS VR2 for a second month. SIE published a customer harassment policy for Japan, joining Square Enix, Capcom, and Arc System Works.
Elsewhere in the group, Sony Music Entertainment Japan agreed to acquire 12,006,500 GungHo Online Entertainment shares for about 28.6 billion yen, pending regulatory approval, and Sony Music's VEE project ends operations September 30. PANDORA and Sony established an XR production committee. A Sony video titled 'Only On PS5' presented titles as PS5 exclusives, but SIE has not issued an official policy statement.
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Sony Pictures Entertainment has formed Crunchyroll Storyworks, a new division of its Crunchyroll anime subsidiary, to be led by Tohru Iokibe, a 25-year Sony veteran. Announced during the Crunchyroll Anime Future Forum at North Javits Center on the eve of New York Comic Con, Storyworks will adapt global stories into anime and Japanese anime into live action, working with Japanese creators on the original creative vision.
Sony will release the INZONE H9 II Fnatic Edition, a collaboration gaming headset made with the esports team Fnatic, on October 22. The manufacturer's estimated retail price including tax is around 39,600 yen. The headset uses Fnatic's orange on the ear cup housings and microphone sponge, and carries Fnatic's symbol mark on the side of the housings. The base INZONE H9 II is a wireless model that uses the same speaker drivers as Sony's WH-1000XM6 Bluetooth headphones, with tuning aimed at FPS play. It supports Sony's low-latency wireless connection, Bluetooth, and wired connections, and includes sound presets for VALORANT and Apex Legends. Sony also announced the INZONE E9 Glass Purple, a new color of its wired gaming in-ear earphones, for the same October 22 date at around 17,600 yen. Those earphones use ear hangers that hook over the ear and were supervised by Fnatic players, with tuning that emphasizes footsteps, gunshots, and voice chat audio. The earphones use a 3.5mm mini-plug analog connection and ship with a USB Type-C sound device.
Sony will release the Xperia 10 VIII on October 8, 2026 in Japan, with the open-market model priced around 99,000 yen. Specs sit close to the Xperia 10 VII. The display is 50 percent brighter, and the redesigned speaker unit raises volume 15 percent and improves low-frequency sound pressure by 100 percent. A new Point & Pay Menu opens on a double press of the power button.
At a Tokyo Game Show 2026 session, staff from Bandai Namco Entertainment, REZ&, Sony Group, and Sony PCL described how the January 24 and 25 Chihaya Kisaragi solo show at Nippon Budokan, "OathONE," was staged. The talk covered center-stage screens, Unreal Engine rendering, motion capture, and Sony's moving LED display groovots, including a large type used to walk the virtual character down a hanamichi.
A Sony Interactive Entertainment patent application filed March 17, 2025 and published September 17, 2026 describes a controller that receives payment method information from a phone, credit card, or gift card held near it, then passes that data to the console. NFC and Bluetooth are cited. The console queries a server to confirm validity before the purchase completes. The documents list no supported models or commercialization plans.
The University of Electro-Communications held an opening ceremony on September 29 for CEREC, a research and education center built around games. Ken Kutaragi, who led development of the original PlayStation and is now a special visiting professor at UEC, joined UEC president Masakazu Muramatsu for a panel discussion and told young people who will make games to never lose their curiosity.
Sony Interactive Entertainment will hold PlayStation Festival on October 24 at Grand Front Osaka North Building 1F Knowledge Plaza, running from 11:00 to 19:00. Attendees can play PS5 titles that appeared at the PlayStation booth at Tokyo Game Show 2026 in September. Advance trial reservations opened October 2 for PlayStation Plus subscribers and close October 21 at 23:59, handled first-come, first-served through the event's special site. The reservable titles are Monster Hunter Wilds: Ascendance from Capcom, Final Fantasy VII Revelation from Square Enix, ACE COMBAT 8: WINGS OF THEVE from Bandai Namco Entertainment, and GUNDAM ROGUE ORBIT from Bandai Namco Entertainment. The day also includes a PLAY! PLAY! PLAY! special stream, sales of PlayStation goods with limited-quantity Astro Bot items, hands-on time with the PlayStation Portal Remote Player, and novelty giveaways tied to trying a game, posting at the venue, or adding the official PlayStation LINE account.
Sony Interactive Entertainment announced the October 2026 PlayStation Plus monthly free play lineup on October 1, and it includes three titles available from October 6 to November 2. Subscribers on the Essential, Extra, and Premium plans can add F1 25, Hello Neighbor, and the voxel Earth Defense Force spinoff DIGBOT EARTH DEFENSE FORCE 2 to their game library at no extra cost and keep playing them while their subscription stays active. F1 25, the official game of the 2025 FIA Formula One World Championship, is only for PS5. Hello Neighbor and DIGBOT EARTH DEFENSE FORCE 2 are both available for PS5 and PS4. The EDF spinoff carries a listed price of 6,980 yen, and Amazon and other retailers sell PlayStation Store credit in 10,000 and 15,000 yen denominations. September's free play titles remain claimable until October 5.
Sony Interactive Entertainment began accepting purchase applications for the PlayStation 5 Pro at the Sony Store on September 28. The application window runs until October 7 at 11:59 PM, and shipping is scheduled for early to mid-November. The eligible product is the PS5 Pro model CFI-7100B01 with a 2TB SSD, priced at 137,980 yen including tax. Applicants must use a Sony account registered in Japan and have logged at least 60 hours of total playtime on PS4 or PS5 between September 27, 2024 and September 27, 2026 at 11:59 PM. The account's My Sony ID and sign-in ID must also be unified. Applications are limited to one unit per account, and applicants are asked to refrain from buying for resale. If applications exceed the planned sales units, a lottery will be held, with winning results announced sequentially starting around October 26. Winners must complete the purchase by November 2 at 11:59 AM. A second-chance lottery is planned for units not purchased by the deadline.
Sony Interactive Entertainment will release a DualSense Wireless Controller "LISA" Limited Edition on October 30, sold in limited quantities on Amazon, with pre-orders opening October 2 at 10:00 for 12,480 yen. The design was made jointly with LISA of BLACKPINK. It is based on her preferred "Chroma Pearl" color and carries motifs of her signature bangs and eyes, stars, and the letters "LL." LISA said in a comment posted on the PlayStation Blog that she likes to spend free time playing games, that creating something people experience through play was a first for her, and that she wanted subtle details fans would notice right away while keeping her own style. The design was decided early in production through close coordination with LISA. The same PlayStation Blog post also shows apparel built on the touchpad motif, including T-shirts, hoodies, hats, tote bags, and a controller case, sold in limited quantities in the United States only.
Singer-songwriter Eve has announced his move from Toy's Factory to Echoes, the Sony Music label that is also home to YOASOBI and Tatsuya Kitani. His first release after the transfer is "AIYOU," the ending theme for the first cour of The Apothecary Diaries Season 3. The song goes to streaming services at midnight on October 2, ahead of the anime's first broadcast that same day at 11:00 PM on Nippon TV's 30-station FRIDAY ANIME NIGHT block. Yorushika handles the opening theme. Season 3 shifts the story from the inner palace to the city streets, with the first cour running from October 2026 and the second from April 2027. The second promotional video centers on Jinshi, now back in his position as the Emperor's younger brother, facing a calamity and a mysterious celestial maiden, and was released alongside the theme announcement.
Sony is taking orders for the Xperia 10 VIII Sony x Hello Kitty Collaboration Model from October 1, a Sony Store bundle that pairs all three color variants with a sacoche and tote bag set limited to 1,000 units. Separately, a launch campaign gives two Demon Slayer-designed Fan Sync cards to the first 20,000 applicants who buy the phone between October 8 and December 13 and apply through Xperia Lounge.
GameBusiness.jp's Generative AI Weekly (No. 160) rounds up recent generative AI research. Music-generation AI YuE2 arrives with open weights and benchmark song quality comparable to Suno v5 and v6. OpenBMB released MiniCPM5-2B, a 2-billion-parameter model for local operation. DeepSeek's DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash outperforms Claude Opus 5 on some benchmarks, and Sony's Hakken predicts discoveries from paper archives.
A Tokyo Game Show session on September 18 brought together four people behind Chihaya Kisaragi's solo Nippon Budokan concert OathONE, held January 24 and 25. Yukiyoshi Yoshimoto of Bandai Namco Entertainment, Nobuaki Kazoe of REZ&, Akira Nakano of Sony Group and Takahiro Kozuki of Sony PCL explained the roles their companies played. The set used a 360-degree center stage, motion capture and Unreal Engine rendering.
Sony Music Entertainment opened order sales on the VEE Official Shop for Airu Hinahoshi's 2026 birthday goods on September 16, the day she marks her birthday. The lineup uses newly drawn illustrations by Kemuri Nakamori and includes an acrylic panel, an acrylic stand, and a set of two can badges, sold both as a set and individually. Orders close September 30, with shipping from mid-December 2026.
Sony Interactive Entertainment announced the PlayStation PULSE Wireless Headset and the PULSE Edge Wireless Headset on September 16, a new generation of official PS5 audio hardware. Both models use custom planar magnetic drivers larger than those in the PULSE Elite, which SIE released in 2024. The headsets support PlayStation Link for what the company describes as lossless, ultra-low-latency audio, and each can connect at the same time to a compatible Bluetooth device. The built-in microphone uses AI-based noise rejection. The standard PULSE has four magnets per driver. The PULSE Edge doubles that to eight and adds active noise canceling, a detachable boom microphone, an audio and mic terminal, a carrying case, and a function that balances PS5 game audio against chat audio. The PULSE ships in some regions from the 2026 holiday season. The PULSE Edge follows in early 2027. Sony has not set prices or reservation dates for either.
Quali Inc. will exhibit within the Sony booth at CEATEC 2026, held from Tuesday, October 13 to Friday, October 16, 2026 at Makuhari Messe in Chiba. The company is developing a robot that supports microsurgery, operations performed under a microscope on minute tissues such as blood vessels and nerves. At the venue, Quali will present the technology and concept behind the robot.
Bungie delayed a major Marathon update planned for September 22 and will fold its content into the Symbiosis update on December 8. The postponed material included permanent PvE content, a Perimeter map revamp, a new Runner shell, a social space, an experimental TDM mode, and a new player intro overhaul. Bungie also said it will stop tying major updates to fixed season deadlines, and an October 6 wipe will address gear gaps left by Season 2.
The column recaps a Sony State of Play that leaned on Resident Evil film news, a Monster Hunter Wilds: Ascendance expansion, and a Mobile Suit Gundam game set for March 2027, plus impressions of the Final Fantasy Resonance demo. It argues Sony still routes Japanese games to a separate stream while its main show favors mainstream franchises, and it questions the Switch 2 Game Key Card format.
Sony Interactive Entertainment published the August 2026 PlayStation Store download rankings on PlayStation.Blog. Beast of Reincarnation, released August 4, took first place on PS5, ahead of METAL GEAR SOLID: MASTER COLLECTION Vol.2 and Palworld. Powerful Pro Baseball 2026-2027 led PS4, with KINGDOM HEARTS -HD 1.5+2.5 ReMIX- second and FINAL FANTASY IX third. Beat Saber led PS VR2 for a second consecutive month, and Once Human topped the free-to-play category. U.S./Canada rankings were published alongside Japan's.
Crunchyroll has acquired the anime feature film Witch on the Holy Night and will release it in theaters in the United States and Canada on January 29, 2027. The film is animated by ufotable and distributed by Crunchyroll with Sony Pictures Entertainment. It adapts the 2012 visual novel written by Kinoko Nasu and developed by Type-Moon. The story follows Aoko Aozaki, a high school student who is an apprentice Magician, and her housemate Alice Kuonji. Screenings will be offered in Japanese with English subtitles and in an English dub. The international rollout opens earlier in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates on January 21, then moves through Austria, Germany, and German-speaking Switzerland on January 26, France, Belgium, and French-speaking Switzerland on January 27, and a larger group of markets including Mexico, Brazil, Italy, Australia, and New Zealand on January 28. The United Kingdom, Ireland, Finland, Poland, Sweden, and India join the January 29 date, with Spain and Kazakhstan on February 5.
Sony Interactive Entertainment will open advance trial reservations for PlayStation Plus subscribers on September 10, ahead of Tokyo Game Show 2026 at Makuhari Messe from September 17 to 21. Reservations, first-come and running until September 16 at 23:59, cover public days only and include Monster Hunter Wilds: Ascendance, FINAL FANTASY VII REVELATION, Marvel's Wolverine, and ACE COMBAT 8: WINGS OF THEVE. The PlayStation booth also hosts a Grand Theft Auto VI: An Extended Look theater, screening the new trailer on a 300-inch screen, with floor haptics that vibrate in sync with the video and sound. Theater visitors get a Grand Theft Auto VI PlayStation T-shirt. Business days run September 17 and 18, 10:00 to 17:00. Public days are September 19 and 20, 9:30 to 17:00, and September 21, 9:30 to 16:00. The venue is Makuhari Messe, with the TKP Tokyo Bay Makuhari Hall also listed.
Kojima Productions announced on September 10, 2026 that its new-generation action espionage game PHYSINT will be published in partnership with Xbox, ending its collaboration with PlayStation Studios. Hideo Kojima said Sony Interactive Entertainment notified him in mid-June 2026 that the in-production PHYSINT project would be canceled. Kojima wrote on X that PHYSINT is an important project for him and for Kojima Productions, so he spent about three months searching for a new partner and settled on Xbox, a party with whom he can share a vision for the future. The Xbox partnership expands on the existing collaboration behind OD, which is also set for Xbox Game Studios. Xbox division CEO Asha Sharma said Kojima's attitude of challenging conventional concepts is the kind of creativity Xbox wants to support. PlayStation Studios said it made the difficult decision to step away after careful consideration and continues to hold Kojima's vision for the game in deep respect. Release date and price for PHYSINT are undecided.
Sony Interactive Entertainment announced on September 9 that it will lower the suggested retail price of the PULSE Explore Wireless Earbuds in Japan from 34,980 yen to 22,980 yen, a cut of 12,000 yen, effective September 15. The Midnight Black version gets the same reduction. The earbuds are PlayStation's first wireless earbuds and the first PlayStation audio device with custom-designed planar magnetic drivers, a component usually found in professional-grade headphones. They support lossless audio over PlayStation Link and can connect to Bluetooth devices at the same time, so a user can play on a PS5 with the USB adapter while taking a call on a smartphone. The built-in dual microphones use AI to filter background noise. The price change applies to model numbers CFI-ZWE1J, CFI-ZWE1JC, and CFI-ZWE1J01. The package includes the PlayStation Link USB adapter, a charging case, eight ear tips, and a USB cable.
Sony Interactive Entertainment started the Tokyo Game Show Sale on the PlayStation Store on September 9, offering discounts on a range of PS5 and PS4 titles. The sale runs until September 23, ahead of the Tokyo Game Show 2026 event that begins September 17. Among the featured discounts, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, the Square Enix RPG preceding a series finale, is priced at 1,973 yen, a 70 percent reduction from 6,578 yen. Monster Hunter Wilds, which has a large DLC planned, is 25 percent off at 3,742 yen, while Pragmata Deluxe Edition receives its first-ever discount at 20 percent off, bringing it to 7,192 yen. Other titles include Persona 3 Reload Digital Premium Edition at 60 percent off (5,491 yen), Biohazard Requiem at 30 percent off (6,293 yen), Nioh 3 at 43 percent off (5,517 yen), and Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories and the Imagined Land at 50 percent off (4,840 yen). The sale also covers deluxe editions and DLC, with more titles listed on the official sale page.
The White House promoted its new Arcade website with videos using boot-up music and visuals from the Sega Genesis, Nintendo GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox 360, and Nintendo DS. The site hosts five games, including Build the Wall, which resembles Tetris. The Tetris Company said it was not involved in the game's creation and takes copyright infringement seriously. Sega, Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft have not issued statements about the use of their assets.
Kagase Uno of VTuber project VERSEⁿ has begun digital distribution of her first original song, "U☆World＊Order," as of Sunday, September 6, 2026. The track was produced through a 2023 crowdfunding campaign, with lyrics, composition, and arrangement by composer Asuka Ogura. A second song from the project, "Ippou Sonokoro Pedia!," was distributed earlier. The music video was already released in advance.
During the State of Play live stream on September 3, 2026, Sony Interactive Entertainment announced the Grand Theft Auto VI Limited Edition DualSense Wireless Controller. The PS5 gamepad features design and decoration inspired by Grand Theft Auto VI, the upcoming game from Rockstar Games. The presentation did not disclose a release date or price for the controller, and further details are expected at a later time. According to coverage from 4Gamer.net and GAME Watch, the controller appears to be available in two color variants: white and black. The announcement was part of the broader State of Play presentation that streamed from 22:00 Japan time. The controller is modeled after the game, with themed decoration that distinguishes it from standard DualSense models. As of the announcement, Sony Interactive Entertainment has not provided additional information about when the controller will launch or how much it will cost. The two color options were observed from images captured during the stream, though official confirmation of the variants is still pending. Fans awaiting the game can expect more details on the controller as they emerge.
Sony Interactive Entertainment announced during its September 3 State of Play broadcast that the horror adventure Until Dawn 2 will launch on January 28, 2027 for PS5. The sequel is developed by Firesprite, the UK-based SIE studio behind Horizon Call of the Mountain. The game follows a group of ghost hunters who run the popular paranormal channel Dead True. The crew signs a contract with a major television network and travels to a tropical uninhabited island for filming, only to encounter genuine terror. The island, which some sources name as Akishima, is said to hide a terrible secret spanning centuries, including vengeful spirits born from hidden tragedies and grudges. The latest trailer shows the crew facing trouble during their broadcast and attempting some kind of ritual. A key element of the game is relationship management among the crew, which becomes more important than in previous entries. Players make difficult choices, and some story branches are determined by character relationships, with trivial interactions creating a butterfly effect that leads to unexpected outcomes. The game's structure keeps characters alive or dead based on player actions, as the crew aims to survive until dawn.
PANDORA and Sony jointly established a production committee to create next-generation experiences using XR technology. The first project is a one-man live by influencer group Saikyo Muteki Rengo, set for January 2, 2027, at SGC Hall Ariake. PANDORA handles production and solutions, while Sony leads technical planning. A second project targets sales promotion.
Sony Interactive Entertainment published a basic policy on customer harassment for Japan on September 1, 2026, on the PlayStation Support page. The policy says the company will respond sincerely to customer voices and use them to improve services, but will not tolerate speech or demands that exceed socially acceptable bounds. It lists eight examples of harassment, including persistent or prolonged demands, excessive or unreasonable compensation or apology requests, abusive language, threats and slander, demands unrelated to products or services, intimidating attitudes or forcing employees to kneel, discriminatory or sexual remarks, attacks on individual employees, and unauthorized visits to offices or facilities. When harassment is confirmed, SIE may restrict or stop responding to the customer, and may consider legal measures including cooperation with police and lawyers and criminal proceedings. The policy follows the revised Act on Promotion of Measures to Prevent Unfair Labor Practices, which takes effect October 1, 2026, and makes customer harassment countermeasures mandatory for all companies. SIE joins Square Enix, Capcom and Arc System Works, which have published similar policies.
GungHo Online Entertainment announced a capital and business alliance with Sony Music Entertainment Japan. SME will acquire 12,006,500 GungHo shares from SON Financial LLC for about 28.6 billion yen (roughly US$179 million) in an off-market transaction. Pending regulatory approval, SME becomes GungHo's largest shareholder and an affiliated company. The two will explore joint development and operation of smartphone, console, and PC games, plus new projects using SME Group IP. GungHo keeps its Tokyo Stock Exchange listing.
Sony Interactive Entertainment announced on August 31 that it will broadcast two PlayStation information programs back to back on September 3, starting at 10:00 p.m. Japan time. The first, State of Play, will deliver the latest announcements and updates from PlayStation Studios and various software makers. At the end of that program, Square Enix will offer a detailed look at the vast world of Final Fantasy VII Revelation, the title planned for a spring 2027 release on Switch 2, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S. Immediately after, State of Play Japan returns with voice actor Yuki Kaji serving again as host. That program focuses on upcoming titles from game studios in Japan and Asia, with new gameplay footage and information. Both programs stream live on the official PlayStation Japan YouTube channel. State of Play carries English audio with Japanese subtitles, while State of Play Japan is in Japanese. The announcement positions the double feature ahead of Tokyo Game Show 2026, which one outlet notes suggests a lavish lineup of upcoming titles.
Sony Music Entertainment announced on August 31 that its virtual talent project VEE will end its current operational structure as of Wednesday, September 30, 2026. The company said it determined that continuing operations as a sustainable business while maintaining the current framework is difficult, and it attributed the failure to establish that framework to management, not the talents. Of the 21 affiliated talents, 20 will continue their activities, with their activity names, characters, YouTube channels, and social media accounts carried over in principle. The transition will follow each talent's choice, such as going independent or joining a new agency. The one exception is Hoshihoshi Airu, whose graduation stream is scheduled for September 16 at 21:00. The fan community VEELLAGE will end service on September 30 at 23:59, with no refunds or compensation planned. Sales at the official shop end on November 30. The game "Gun Girl Go," which was under development, has been canceled. VEE, which launched in 2021, had promoted the message "VTubers are human too" and treated talents' activity names and characters as their own property. The official YouTube channel and SNS accounts will remain public as archives for the time being.
Sony Music Entertainment and GungHo Online Entertainment announced a capital and business alliance on August 28. SME will acquire all 12,006,500 common shares held by SON Financial LLC, GungHo's current largest shareholder, at 2,385 yen per share for about 28.6 billion yen. The transfer, scheduled for December 30, 2026, gives SME a 23.29% voting rights stake, making it GungHo's largest shareholder. The companies plan to combine GungHo's game development with Sony Music Group's entertainment expertise.
Sony Interactive Entertainment released a video titled "Only On PS5 | PS5 Games" on the official PlayStation YouTube channel on August 24, 2026. The video presents a lineup of titles as PS5 exclusives, including the already released Astro Bot, SAROS, Gran Turismo 7, and Ghost of Yōtei, alongside upcoming releases such as Marvel's Wolverine and God of War Laufey. The video displays the phrase "PLAYSTATION 5 EXCLUSIVE" for each game. This follows a March 2026 Bloomberg report citing internal sources that SIE had stopped planning PC versions for major PS5 single-player games, with Ghost of Yōtei and SAROS remaining console exclusive while online games like Marathon and MARVEL Tōkon: Fighting Souls continue as multiplatform releases. SIE has not issued an official statement confirming a policy shift, but the video arrives after several signals pointing in that direction. Game*Spark previously reported that PC development mentions have disappeared from PlayStation Studios studio descriptions and that Sony's annual report removed references to "PC and other multiplatform" from its gaming segment. The video's comment section is largely filled with anger from overseas gamers over the discontinuation of physical disc versions.
Sony Music Entertainment began order-based sales of 4th Anniversary Goods for VEE virtual talents Anew Uparu and Luminous Sweet at the VEE Official Shop. Each acrylic diorama stand, priced at 4,500 yen, includes a bonus sticker using new illustration by Kutori Panya. Orders run through September 6.
Sony Music Entertainment's Echoes label announced the debut of LAYRA, a singer who moves between virtual and real worlds. Part of the new song "Watashi wa LAYRA" by TeddyLoid was released. LAYRA is produced by Hiro-chan <As>, who worked on the singer Bell in the animated film Belle. Character design is by Mika Pikazo, and music is by TeddyLoid. LAYRA's first stage is the immersive live "Belle - PROJECT LAYRA -" at MoN Takanawa from October 10 to November 15, 2026, with five performers.
Rapper Pilaf Seijin appears in a new PS5 TV commercial for Sony Interactive Entertainment. Two videos, "Let's Play a Lot on PlayStation 5! feat. Pilaf Seijin" and "Everyone Gather on PlayStation 5! feat. Pilaf Seijin," will release on the official PlayStation Japan YouTube channel on August 14. Pilaf Seijin wrote the commercial song "Dabi Dabi Du," which incorporates the worldviews of six featured games, and provides narration. The song releases digitally on August 28.
Sony Interactive Entertainment will release patch 2.0 for Ghost of Yotei on October 2, adding the story expansion Echoes of Sekigahara and the single-player survival mode Most Wanted. A Complete Edition bundling the base game, both DLCs, and the free Legends co-op mode launches October 1 for 8,980 yen.
The game preservation movement Stop Killing Games and the preservation activist group DoesItPlay have announced support for a class action lawsuit against Sony filed by the Dutch non-profit organization Stichting Massaschade & Consument (SM&C). The lawsuit, initiated in early 2025, argues that Sony monopolizes the PlayStation digital game market by limiting sales to its own store, creating what SM&C calls a "Sony tax" that forces consumers to pay unfair prices. According to SM&C, digital versions of games cost on average up to 47% more than physical versions. The lawsuit seeks fair game pricing, alternatives to the PlayStation Store, and the return of profits Sony allegedly obtained unfairly from Dutch gamers. Stop Killing Games stated on its official YouTube channel that it fully supports the SM&C lawsuit and backs its claims in the Dutch court. SM&C warns that Sony's announced policy to end physical media production in January 2028 will give Sony even greater control over the sale, pricing, and conditions of new PlayStation games, and raises concerns about the disappearance of the second-hand game market. Dutch gamers can register to join the lawsuit via the SM&C website.
Sony Interactive Entertainment announced on August 13, 2026 the August additions to the PlayStation Plus Game Catalog, available to Extra and Premium tier subscribers. The cooperative action shooter HELLDIVERS 2, in which up to four players complete missions across planets overrun by insects and robots, launched on the service the same day. The announcement coincides with the release of the game's Devoid of Liberty update, themed around the squid-like mutant Illuminate faction. On August 18, the open-world RPG Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, set in 15th-century Bohemia, and the action game Vampire Survivors will join the lineup. August 25 brings Hell is Us, plus four additional titles: Umamusume: Pretty Derby - Party Dash, Two Point Museum, Metro Exodus, and Dying Light 2 Stay Human. The Classics Catalog, available to Premium plan subscribers, adds the PS2 title Shin Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams and the original PlayStation game Disney's Atlantis: The Lost Empire on August 18. All eight Game Catalog titles and two Classics Catalog titles were confirmed across multiple outlets.
Crunchyroll announced it acquired most worldwide distribution rights to Makoto Shinkai's new feature film, excluding almost all of Asia but including India. Crunchyroll and Sony Pictures will co-distribute. No title or details were revealed. Shinkai said in November 2025 he was working on a new film with dependable companions.
At CEDEC 2026, Shuhei Yoshida delivered a keynote recounting his nearly 30-year career, from joining Sony Computer Entertainment in 1993 as employee number 32 to founding yosp Inc. He discussed his involvement with 'Crash Bandicoot' and 'Demon's Souls,' and stated his career-long stance of choosing the creator over IP.
Sony announced the FE 100-400mm F5.6-8 OSS (SEL100400) E-mount full-frame super-telephoto zoom lens for α series cameras. Weighing about 654g, it is lighter than Sony's existing 100-400mm lens. The estimated price is around 140,000 yen. Release is September 4, with pre-orders from August 18.
At CEDEC 2026 on July 22, 2026, Shuhei Yoshida of yosp delivered a keynote titled "Wonderful Games, Creators, and Their Creativity That I Have Encountered," looking back on roughly 30 years of working with game developers. Yoshida joined Sony Computer Entertainment in 1993 as employee number 32, later led first-party development in the United States, and left Sony Interactive Entertainment in 2025 to found yosp. During the speech, he covered 26 titles, with the latter half introducing 16 co-creation examples from "Gravity Daze" in 2012 to "Beast of Reincarnation" this year. He named "Journey" as the title he is most proud of, citing Jenova Chen's focus on player feelings and a fan message about overcoming grief. Yoshida also discussed "Bloodborne," calling the lack of a remaster, PC version, or sequel a "mystery," and recounted how "Demon's Souls" initially had overseas releases shelved before word of mouth changed that decision. He closed by expressing his intention to continue supporting indie creators worldwide.
Sony Group reported its consolidated results for the first quarter of fiscal year 2026 on July 31, revealing that cumulative PS5 shipments reached 95.3 million units as of June 30, 2026. This figure adds the 1.6 million units shipped from April to June 2026 to the 93.7 million units shipped as of March 31, 2026. The quarterly shipment total represents a decrease of 900,000 units from the 2.5 million units shipped in the same period last year. Sony also disclosed that PS4 and PS5 software sold 66.1 million copies in the quarter, with the digital download ratio at 82%, roughly equivalent to 54.2 million copies. The download ratio was 83% in the same period last year, 85% in the previous quarter, and 78% for the full fiscal year 2025, maintaining a level around 80%. Regarding memory market conditions, Sony stated that it has secured the memory required for its planned sales volume for fiscal year 2026, with no change to its plan to keep hardware profit or loss in line with the previous fiscal year. The announcement follows concerns over rising memory and storage prices, which had led Sony to plan sales based on memory procurement at reasonable prices.
Sony released a character guide video for Ghost Rider in the fighting game MARVEL Tōkon: Fighting Souls, launching August 7 on PS5. The video explains the Vengeance Gauge mechanic, which has three zones and affects move power. The second open beta test starts July 24, with Ghost Rider playable.
Sony Music's VEE project talents Anew Uparu and Maoh Tulsi have provided a collaboration song and made cameo appearances as character models for Ibarayugi's murder mystery work Kinpu no Harmonia, released July 15. The song Soul Unbound has two versions, each showing the talents' individuality. The cross-genre collaboration blends VEE talents into the narrative from both musical and story aspects.
Sony Interactive Entertainment has filed a patent for a cooling technology designed to improve heat dissipation in electronic devices placed in vertical or horizontal orientations. The patent, published in the US in June 2026, focuses on heat pipe design to maintain cooling efficiency regardless of orientation. Some overseas media speculate the technology could be related to the PS6. Sony also filed a dust-proof patent months ago.