When does the Golden Week sale begin on the PlayStation Store?

Sony is yet to make an official announcement about the Golden Week sale but the discounts are expected to go live on the Playstation Store later today, April 25. The sale traditionally covers the Golden Week event in Japan, which runs between April 29 and May 5 this year.

The Golden Week sale, as spotted by Reddit, currently includes 425 games, bundles, and DLC items, although this list could grow by the time the sale goes live. Just some of the games and franchises included in the sale are:

• Ace Attorney
• Atelier
• Bloodborne
• Danganronpa
• Dead Rising
• Devil May Cry
• Dragon Ball
• Dragon Quest
• Dynasty Warriors
• Final Fantasy
• Kingdom Hearts
• Lost Judgment
• Mega Man
• Monster Hunter
• Naruto
• NieR
• Ni No Kuni
• Nioh
• One Piece
• Persona
• Resident Evil
• Star Ocean
• Street Fighter
• Yakuza

With the Spring Sale due to end soon, Sony is expected to reveal a full list of discounts later today.

The post PlayStation Golden Week Sale Coming to PS5 and PS4 Soon appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

PS5 sales lifting up game hardware market in multiple regions

With the Nintendo Switch and Xbox Series X/S sales declining, it’s the PS5 that’s doing the heavy lifting when it comes to video game hardware sales in several markets. Just yesterday, we reported that PS5 saw a 500 percent sales boost in Europe, and today, Piscatella has revealed that PS5 lifted hardware spending during the month of March 2023 in the U.S.

PS5 is now the best-selling hardware in the U.S. both in March and in 2023 to date.

Sony previously told investors that it expected the PS5 to surpass PS4 in sales once the console’s supply situation improved. Looking at data from various markets following the end of the shortage, it’s evident that the company was spot on.

Elsewhere, Piscatella revealed that Resident Evil 4 Remake is now the third best-selling game of 2023 in the U.S. after Hogwarts Legacy and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, respectively.

The post PS5 Sales Finally Surpass PS4 Sales on Time-Aligned Basis appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

How PlayStation players boost Microsoft’s MAUs

Surprisingly, despite having far fewer consoles in the market, Microsoft has more MAUs than Sony. According to Ampere Analysis, between September 2022 to February 2023, Sony overtook Microsoft only once and it was around the time God of War Ragnarok released.

In a statement to IGN, analyst Piers Harding-Rolls revealed that this is because a large number of PlayStation players are playing Minecraft, which is owned by Microsoft. Apparently 35 percent of users playing Microsoft games (which includes acquired properties) are actually on PlayStation.

Harding-Rolls further explained the implications of Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard. According to him, the merger – which will result in Activision Blizzard appearing as Microsoft going forward – will challenge EA’s lead as the top console publisher, with Microsoft “potentially having a share over two times that of Sony.”

Many have suggested that Sony should purchase EA in the inevitable consolidation wars following the Activision Blizzard merger.

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Microsoft moves to quell players’ fears over Xbox exclusivity

Xbox CEO Phil Spencer has already claimed Microsoft does not want to keep existing PlayStation games off those consoles, and this is the main argument in their fight to acquire Activision Blizzard and the Call of Duty franchise. Redfall director Harvey Smith’s assertion that Redfall was canceled on PS5 goes directly against that claim, so a Microsoft spokesperson released a statement to GameSpot refuting the allegation the game was pulled from the platform:

We haven’t pulled any games from PlayStation. In fact, we’ve expanded our footprint of games that we’ve shipped on Sony’s PlayStation since our acquisition of ZeniMax, and the first two games we shipped after closing were PlayStation 5 exclusives. We did the same thing since our closing of Minecraft as we extended the reach of that franchise. All of the games that were available on PlayStation when we acquired ZeniMax in March 2021 are still available on PlayStation, and we have continued to do content updates on PlayStation and PC. We have always said that future decisions on whether to distribute ZeniMax games for other consoles will be made on a case-by-case basis.

Microsoft spokesperson

While the Bethesda deal did still allow Deathloop and Ghostwire: Tokyo to enjoy PS5 exclusivity for 12 months, once existing contracts had passed things haven’t been so encouraging. Both Starfield and Redfall are exclusive to Xbox, and there are rumors that The Elder Scrolls 6 will follow suit despite being an existing PlayStation franchise. Regardless of whether Microsoft or Harvey Smith is correct, the future doesn’t look bright for future Bethesda games on PS4 and/or PS5.

The post Microsoft Denies Pulling Games Like Redfall From PS5 and PS4 appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

Will Xbox exclusives Starfield and Redfall dent PS5 market share?

With the PS5 shortage ending, Sony seems to have jumped well ahead of Xbox Series X/S worldwide. However, Microsoft now has ZeniMax Media and possibly Activision Blizzard in the future, giving it a much-needed boost when it comes to its games portfolio.

However, DFC Intelligence thinks that games like Starfield and Redfall will not compel consumers to purchase an Xbox Series X or S over PS5. On the contrary, the company believes that if Starfield falls short of expectations, it’ll hurt Microsoft’s hardware sales.

DFC Intelligence predicts that exclusives will continue to play a major role in console sales. While Sony and Nintendo are known for their exclusives, Microsoft’s Game Pass makes Xbox games available on other platforms. According to the company, this means there isn’t “a major need for buying Xbox hardware.”

DFC Intelligence thinks that if Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard is approved, the competitive landscape will become more balanced. But should the deal fail, Microsoft’s position in the market “will be in jeopardy.”

The post Xbox Exclusives ‘Not Enough’ to Cut PS5 Market Share, Says Analyst Firm appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

What’s going on with PlayStation Support?

As evidenced by an abundance of recent complaints on social media and forums like Reddit and ResetEra, players are simply unable to connect to PlayStation’s customer support. Forget getting someone on the phone, players consider themselves lucky if they get through to a live chat agent, and said agent sticks around and offers a resolution rather than giving a non-answer to the issue at hand and ending the chat.

Faulty hardware results in weeks upon weeks of headaches, often with no desirable outcomes. Got issues with two-step verification or your account being hacked? PlayStation Support probably can’t help so make a new account and cancel any debit or credit cards associated with your previous account. Sorry about the games.

For its part, Sony has apparently been recruiting players as online support agents and has seemingly offered priority customer support to top PlayStation Stars members, but that’s hardly any consolation for the average player.

With Sony ramping up its PS5 marketing efforts, one can only hope the company opens its wallet up to revamp customer support as well.

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Which Call of Duty game failed to be the top-selling game?

The one exception over the last ten years was Call of Duty: Vanguard in 2021. Sony did not reveal which game was the top-selling PS5 and PS4 title of 2021, and Vanguard’s final position was redacted when Sony’s document was released to the public. Despite Vanguard not being the top game, it did still manage to beat games like Fortnite, Grand Theft Auto V, and FIFA 22 in terms of positive gameplay.

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The Call of Duty franchise is incredibly important to Sony, and an independent survey has already revealed more players buy a PS5 console for the franchise rather than for any of Sony’s console-exclusive games. Call of Duty is the main point of argument between Microsoft and Sony as the former’s proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard attempts to gain approval from various authorities. A 10-year deal has been offered to keep the games on PS5 and PS4 although Sony is yet to reach an agreement.

The post Call of Duty Was Top-Selling PS5 and PS4 Game for Last 10 Years appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

How PS4/PS5 cross-saves have improved

If you’re installing or downloading a PS5 game that uses your old PS4 save data, and you’ve backed it up to the cloud, you’ll automatically be notified that your PS4 save data is available in cloud storage. All you then have to do is press the PS button, expand the notification, and select “Download PS4 Saved Data.” In doing so, there’s no need to manually transfer data via USB or other methods.

Players will also get a similar notification if they’re playing a PS4 game on the PS5. If they want to continue playing a last-gen game on their new consoles, and haven’t yet transferred the save data, players will be notified if their PS4 save data is available in cloud storage.

PS5 isn’t quite on Xbox Series X‘s level when it comes to cross-gen gaming and save data transfers, but Sony’s certainly taking steps in the right direction, albeit two years on.

The post New PS5 Update Makes PS4/PS5 Cross-Saves Less Confusing appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

PS4 system update 10.50 patch notes

Sony Interactive Entertainment has yet to update its support website with PS4 firmware update 10.50 details, but thanks to MP1st, we have confirmation of what it does. Patch notes are as follows:

• You can now access your authorized apps in (Settings.)
• Authorized apps are third-party apps and services that you’ve linked your account for PlayStation Network to. When using an authorized app, you give permission to share your account data with that app.
• To view and manage your authorized apps, go to (Settings) > (Account Management) < (Authorized Apps) and then scan the QR code with your mobile device.
• Friends that are active on your PlayStation App will now show up as online on your friends list.
• Unicode 15.0 emoji can now be displayed.
• You can see which of the players in your game session are on other platforms for games that support this feature.

We’ll update our readers if Sony has something more to add.

For information on how to update your PS4, follow the steps outlined on PlayStation’s official support website.

The post PS4 Update 10.50 Is Out, Patch Notes Released appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

How Sony responded to lawmakers’ concerns about PlayStation multiplayer games

The letter in question was sent out to all major gaming companies by seven lawmakers back in December 2022, an effort spearheaded by congresswoman Lori Trahan. In an update published last week, Trahan said that responses from nearly all of the companies were inadequate and failed to address their policies surrounding extremism in online games, and transparency in reporting these issues.

With sensitive business information redacted, a summary of responses from all the companies (which includes Microsoft, Epic Games, Valve, and many more) can be found on Trahan’s official webpage.

Sony has said that it makes an effort to educate parents of its consoles’ safety features and shares a commitment to “Safer Gaming” initiative with Microsoft and Nintendo. The company highlighted its reporting mechanisms and said that all reports of harassment are viewed by human moderators. Sony also said that it uses communication technology to filter out hate speech and profanity.

While politicians say the companies aren’t doing enough, the Entertainment Software Association has warned against sounding false alarms involving video games.

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