Sony reports PlayStation Plus subscribers declined to 45.4M in Q2, down from 47.3M in Q1, and PlayStation Network MAUs dropped to 102M in Q2 from 103M in Q1 (Andy Robinson/Video Games Chronicle)

Bloomberg:
Sony says longtime PlayStation hardware architect Masayasu Ito plans to retire on October 1; Ito joined Sony in 1986 and began working on consoles in 2000  —  Sony Group Corp. is set to lose its longtime PlayStation hardware architect Masayasu Ito, who will retire at the end of this month.

Chris Scullion / Video Games Chronicle:
Sony and Tencent’s Sixjoy acquire a combined 30.34% of Elden Ring game company FromSoftware; FromSoftware’s parent Kadokawa retains the remaining 69.66%  —  FROMSOFTWARE SAYS THE INVESTMENT MAY HELP IT PUBLISH GAMES GLOBALLY  —  Elden Ring studio FromSoftware has announced that it’s selling shares …

Kristin Robinson / Billboard:
Triller removes music catalogs for UMG, WMG, Sony Music and Merlin after Sony filed a lawsuit claiming Triller failed to make payments worth “millions”  —  Following Sony’s lawsuit, one label source says “millions” in unpaid royalties are the issue.  Triller denies this, saying the app is “reassessing” label deals.

Tom Warren / The Verge:
Sony plans to launch the PlayStation VR2 on February 22 for $550, £530, or €600; preorders open November 15  —  Sony will launch its PS VR2 headset on February 22nd priced at $549.99.  The PS VR2 will be priced at $549.99 in the US, €599.99 across Europe, £529.99, and ¥74,980 in Japan.

Takashi Mochizuki / Bloomberg:
Sources: Sony plans to make 2M PlayStation VR2 units by March 2023, an ambitious target, and has not yet faced supply chain constraints  —  Sony Group Corp. plans to make 2 million units of the PlayStation VR2 headset by March next year, people familiar with the matter said …

Jordan Middler / Video Games Chronicle:
Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer says Sony opposes the Activision Blizzard acquisition to “protect its dominance” and grows by “making Xbox smaller”  —  In the latest war of words over its proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Microsoft’s Gaming CEO has claimed …