Sony has announced a new Play At Home initiative to reduce the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. The initiative will enable players to download two free games between now and May 5, as well as establish a fund to help smaller independent game studios who have affected by COVID-19.
With Play At Home, Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) has made Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection and Journey free to play. Both titles are now available for digital download and once players redeem the games, they can keep them.
Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection is a blockbuster three-game collection by Naughty Dog that includes Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves and Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception, all of which have been remastered for PlayStation 4. On the other hand, Journey is a mysterious indie adventure game developed by Thatgamecompany.
According to Sony, Play At Home will also raise funds for indie developers. On that front, SIE says it has “earmarked $10 million to support our independent development partners”. More information – including criteria for participation – will be made public soon.
In a statement released recently, Jim Ryan, president and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) wrote that the company takes its “responsibility as a home entertainment platform seriously” and is asking its community “to continue supporting the safe choice and the need to Play At Home”.
Sony also recently unveiled DualSense, the controller for the upcoming PlayStation 5. “DualSense marks a radical departure from our previous controller offerings and captures just how strongly we feel about making a generational leap with PS5,” Ryan explained in an announcement at the time.
“The new controller, along with the many innovative features in PS5, will be transformative for games – continuing our mission at PlayStation to push the boundaries of play, now and in the future.”