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A lot of interesting info has come out of last week’s ABK inunction hearing between Microsoft and the U.S. FTC. Much of it has released by accident, and much of it pertains to Sony’s PlayStation brand. Sony—and more specifically PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan—have of course been the fiercest opponents of the Microsoft merger with Activision Blizzard.
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Last week a leak exposed budgeting details for several first-party games from PlayStation Studios. As reported by Axios and others, Sony spends as much as a staggering $200 million USD on certain AAA first-party games like Horizon Forbidden West and The Last of Us Part II. Staffing and development timeline data were also leaked. Apparently the poorly redacted info was done with a Sharpie pen, which left the data visible when scanned.
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Now a Microsoft document has been leaked that explicitly states that Sony will release a PlayStation 5 Slim edition later in 2023, for a retail price of $399.
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PlayStation likewise sells a less expensive Digital Edition for $399.99, and is expected to release a PlayStation 5 Slim later this year at the same reduced price point.”
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(The statement can be found on page 48 of the document, lines 9-10). Also mentioned in the footnotes is the PlayStation handheld device (code-named the Q Lite) which Sony is reportedly also going to release this year, likely at a $299 price point.
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Microsoft, on the other hand, seems content with its current Xbox hardware lineup, as recently confirmed by Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer. Aside from the carbon black 1TB Xbox Series S, there is no known new Xbox related hardware coming in the near future.
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Via Game Revolution.
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