Sony to acquire Audeze, will keep products multi-platform
Audeze is one of the leading brands in audio technology.
Sony Interactive Entertainment has made another move in the acquisition world, but not for a game studio. Instead, the company has announced that it has reached an agreement to acquire Audeze, one of the top names in the world of audio technology.
Sony announced its acquisition of Audeze in a press release today. The acquisition was done in hopes of bolstering the “audio experience of PlayStation games.” Sony has also quelled concerns by confirming that Audeze products will remain multiplatform after the acquisition is complete.
Source: Audeze
“Audeze is a premier brand for headphones, and this acquisition highlights Sony Interactive’s focus on innovation and providing the best audio experience to PlayStation players,” said Hideaki Nishino, Senior Vice President, Platform Experience at Sony Interactive Entertainment. “We’re excited to bring Audeze’s expertise into the PlayStation ecosystem, building on the great strides we’ve made with PlayStation 5’s Tempest 3D AudioTech and the Pulse 3D wireless headset.”
“Sony Interactive provides Audeze with a unique opportunity to scale our business, as we continue with our mission to deliver best-in-class headphones to recording professionals, audiophiles, and gamers,” said Sankar Thiagasamudram, CEO at Audeze. “We’re also looking forward to contributing to Sony Interactive’s efforts to take PlayStation audio experiences to the next level.”
Audeze manufactures a line of high-end headphones that are often heralded as some of the best on the market. Most recently, the company released the Maxwell Ultraviolet, a gaming headset designed for Xbox and PC. It’ll be interesting to see how Sony folds the company into its PlayStation peripherals. Could some high-end PlayStation headsets be on the way? For more on the future of Audeze and the business moves of Sony Interactive Entertainment, stick with us here on Shacknews.
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replyDonovan Erskine posted a new article, Sony to acquire Audeze, will keep products multi-platform
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wow!
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Audeze nuts!
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The press release reads like they want Audeze to give them technical guidance on making Sony audio and Tempest 3D better.
I really do not understand how so many Shackers have drunk this weird koolaid that Sony is some evil destroyer of gaming. Thresher, you’re not so bad in this department but seriously, it should be patently obvious by now with the BG3 and Quantum Error developments etc. that Sony actually built innovative hardware that is easier to develop for. Why buy a high end audio tech company without the goal of making other hardware better. Sony already has pretty decent quality consumer level audio hardware with their own headphones, although it’s true their dominance in consumer audio isn’t what it used to be 20 years ago. This might help all their audio, such as home theater.-
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People around here are definitely more informed down the PC/Xbox axis. Perhaps that’s only the more vocal faction?
I do know that of people who post on console news, I see much fewer who are up on the latest Sony news overall. Many folks here who would’ve played PlayStation games on a console are also now just waiting for them to be ported to PC, now that Sony’s committed to supporting that regularly. So another reason they’re less up on the tech and the news. -
PS5 is awesome. But any time a large company buys a much loved smaller one, it seems like the products will inevitably suffer. I truly hope they don't mess with Audeze.
I have some hope though. For those who don't know, Samsung owns a number of high end to mid market audio companies and for the most part let them do their work without interference. They purchased Harman International, which owned Rotel, JBL, Harman Kardon, AKG, Infinity, Mark Levinson, and Arcam, to name a few. It's been several years since the transaction and they're still largely hands-off.
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I suppose you could feel that way in general, but I think if one will look at Sony tech over the years, it is becoming increasingly clear that they’re moving towards a strategy of attempting staying relevant in home electronics and gaming by increasing tech innovation.
That may or may not be consumer friendly depending on the cost of the tech, but we don’t know that yet.-
I mean I own way too much Sony stuff to say anything against that. My TV, sound system, UHD player are all Sony (and of course there's a playstation in there, too).
And I've been super happy with all of them, especially the way they all talk to eachother, so I only ever use one remote. And they include a hidden Pro mode on the TV that allows for all sorts of ridiculous customization - super happy with all that, as I said.
But you also have them trying to introduce completely proprietary wireless headphones in an era where that just isn't justifiable in any way, and a history of doing exactly that over and over again, whether it's memory stick or magic gate or any number of other forays into proprietary nonsense that isn't at all justified by any technical need.
So they're very much a company where I have to judge their products/programs on a case by case basis.-
Yeah that’s been the problem with Sony for 20 years, imo. Their consumer electronics division started separating into too many different groups with wildly different quality and R&D standards and eventually they were barely coordinating with each other.
I love Sony TVs for the same reasons you do, for example, but it was insanity to me that they launched the PS5 and there wasn’t a single Sony TV that worked together with it to deliver gaming features that would enhance the AV output for the console. Madness!!! Shocked it could happen. A really missed opportunity that’s barely been addressed and LG has captured a ton of business that was only Sony’s to lose. Very ridiculous.
But I still get the impression this Audeze purchase is to synergize R&D so that Sony’s tattered audio division can go up in quality on the high end and up on features on the consumer end, specifically due to the wording on these press releases that mention Sony’s own Tempest audio, which is actually very impressive when you play their first party games with Sony headphones….and I actually got to try out multiple headphones of different high end brands on a PS5 before deciding on buying some Sony PlayStation oriented ones, thanks to a friend who had quite a collection.
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Haha we already know about you! 😆
I was always agnostic but strangely enough, working for years in Microsoft technical requirements and submissions for Xbox and comparing that (proprietary/NDA) process with how my Sony and Nintendo colleagues did the same job, I developed certain attitudes towards and predictions about Xbox that I wasn’t wrong about.
It wasn’t the only thing that eventually made me lean more towards Sony being the platform holder that most puts tech and artistic innovation as a key part of their business strategy, but it was the first thing that got me putting that opinion together. But anyways, the show’s not over and I still am hoping to see MS Games have a new era of artistic focus.
That’s the sum of my opinion on Sony vs. MS.-
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I started out as OC Masterrace and came to Japanese games by somewhat of a fluke, but I was instantly fascinated by the differences in design philosophy.
At this point I spend about half my time on Japanese games, 30% on European developers and 20% on US based games, although that ratio shifts around a bit from year to year and is somewhat due to putting crazy amounts of hours into FromSoftware games for the past 15+ years. 😅
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they did just release a new handheld with a totally proprietary headset instead of using basic Bluetooth
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They made the first gaming headset with planar magnetic drivers, so they are like audiophile gear. HyperX made a set using their tech, or branding their design. They're supposed to be amazing.
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