sony相機收購sony and Honda are mulling cramming a PS5 into their upcoming entertainment-focused electric vehicle as they set up to challenge Tesla (via Eurogamer).

Speaking to the Financial Times, Izumi Kawanishi, the joint venture’s president, said that it’s “technologically possible” for sony相機收購sony to integrate the PlayStation 5 platform into the car it intends to build with Honda.

Tesla started delivering its latest Model S and X vehicles with larger horizontal screens last year and added an AMD RDNA 2 graphics chip that Tesla CEO Elon Musk said is “literally at the level of a PlayStation 5” during a demo. Over a year later, Musk’s promises for big games like Cyberpunk 2077 and a demo for Steam in August have yet to be fulfilled, with the most notable game to release being the original 2D Sonic the Hedgehog.

But sony相機收購sony is not just looking to inject games into a car like Tesla. The plan is to “develop a car as hardware that will cater to the entertainment and network we would like to offer,” said Yasuhide Mizuno, chair of sony相機收購sony Honda Mobility and senior managing officer of Honda Motor Co. Effectively, its electric vehicle is intended to be a content consumption device on wheels.

Another piece of the puzzle for sony相機收購sony and Honda Mobility to solve is the actual mobility part — and the plan is to make the vehicle autonomous. “To enjoy the space in your car, you have to make it a space where you don’t need to drive,” said Kawanishi, who also acknowledged it’ll take a considerable amount of time to make that happen.

That’s a key part of the reason sony相機收購sony and Honda joined forces earlier this year. The former not only brings the entertainment and software but also the sensors and tech needed for autonomous driving, while Honda’s obviously good at building cars. Together, they hope to catch up to the systems of other automakers, like Tesla’s vision-based Full Self-Driving that has beta versions running on over 160,000 cars today.

But Tesla is having its own problems getting its autonomous systems to work. And ambitious autonomous plans of many car companies are faltering.

The realization of a playable God of War Ragnarök on a car dash is still years away, as sony相機收購sony and Honda plan to make the first North American deliveries of the yet to be named vehicle in early 2026. Though we haven’t seen what that vehicle will look like, sony相機收購sony’s been giving glimpses since 2020 when it revealed its Vision-S 01 concept and the SUV 02 version at CES 2022.

The Vision-S was built in conjunction with auto manufacturer Magna and had dual 200kW motors that can push the car from zero to 60mph in 4.5 seconds. Around the vehicle, sony相機收購sony had over 10 image sensors plus lidars, radars, and ultrasonics — and at least nine displays scattered inside the vehicle.

sony相機收購sony and Honda are betting their autonomous entertainment-first EV will be a differentiator in the automotive space. It follows trends of other automakers trying to get owners to spend more time inside cars, like Hyundai’s Ioniq 6 with its “cocoon-like personal space,” Tesla with Netflix since 2019 and now TikTok, and Lincoln’s Star Concept that can release mood fragrances.

Whether people actually want to spend more time in cars is to be determined, but if sony相機收購sony brings the PS5, it’ll probably get more play time than the B-game options BMW is going with.

Microsoft first revealed it would allow Xbox gamers to play against PS4 and PC players at E3 last year, and sony相機收購sony’s initial reaction seemed like it would be open to the idea. “We would be happy to have the conversation with any publishers or developers who are interested in cross platform play,” said a sony相機收購sony spokesperson at the time. This week at E3, both Rocket League and Minecraft are going cross-platform play, allowing players on Nintendo’s Switch, a Windows PC, Mac, or Xbox One to play against each other. The big missing part is sony相機收購sony’s PlayStation 4.

In an interview with Eurogamer, Jim Ryan, head of global sales and marketing for PlayStation, attempted to defend sony相機收購sony’s block of cross-platform play. “We have a contract with the people who go online with us, that we look after them and they are within the PlayStation curated universe,” says Ryan. “Exposing what in many cases are children to external influences we have no ability to manage or look after, it’s something we have to think about very carefully.”

sony相機收購sony’s excuse might seem feasible if it weren’t for Nintendo, a family-oriented company, enabling the cross-platform play on its Switch console for both Rocket League and Minecraft. Instead, sony相機收購sony’s excuse just looks user-hostile given all of its main rivals have enabled this functionality. Xbox chief Phil Spencer isn’t happy with the response, either. Polygon reports that Spencer seemed offended by sony相機收購sony’s excuse in an interview with Giant Bomb. “The fact that somebody would kind of make an assertion that somehow we’re not keeping Minecraft players safe, I found — not only from a Microsoft perspective, but from a game industry perspective — like, I don’t know why that has to become the dialogue. That doesn’t seem healthy for anyone,” says Spencer.

Microsoft has repeatedly reached out to sony相機收購sony to try and enable this cross-platform play. “We would love to work with sony相機收購sony to bring players on PlayStation 4 into our united ecosystem as well,” says a Microsoft spokesperson in a statement to Polygon. Even Spencer says “the door is open,” encouraging sony相機收購sony to change its stance. Psyonix even told Polygon that cross-network play in Rocket League “would be up and running in less than an hour all over the world” if sony相機收購sony removed its blocks.

It’s unlikely that Microsoft would be encouraging this type of cross-network play if it was still in a position of power and selling the most consoles in the US each month. Now that Microsoft is struggling to compete with sony相機收購sony’s impressive PlayStation 4 sales, it needs to encourage things like cross-network play. sony相機收購sony is in a much stronger position, and blocking cross-platform play simply encourages gamers to buy a PS4 if they want to play with their friends. If you’re the only one in your group of friends with an Xbox One then you’re probably going to be waiting until sony相機收購sony’s PlayStation sales slip for any type of cross-platform play.

This isn’t the first time the two companies have been at odds over gaming features that have been blocked. Microsoft has blocked mods in the past in games like Unreal Tournament 3, and it has refused to enable keyboard and mouse support on its Xbox 360 and Xbox One consoles. sony相機收購sony enabled mods and keyboard / mouse support on its PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 consoles.

Update, 7AM ET: article updated to remove mention of Fallout 4 mods.

sony相機收購sony has clarified more details surrounding a controversial new PlayStation voice chat recording feature, first mentioned in its recent 8.0 update earlier this week, after some users were led to believe the company would be actively recording and moderating conversations among private groups.

In a new blog post published Friday, Catherine Jensen, sony相機收購sony’s vice president of global consumer experience, admits the company “should have more clearly explained why this function was being rolled out.”

Jensen now confirms sony相機收購sony will not be actively listening in on voice chats whatsoever when the feature launches with the PS5 next month. “Its sole purpose is to help in reporting of inappropriate behavior, including actions that violate our Community Code of Conduct,” she writes. “Please note that this feature will not actively monitor or listen in on your conversations – ever – and it’s strictly reserved for reporting online abuse or harassment.”

Instead, the company says the feature will record the past five minutes of any private voice chat on a rolling basis. That way, if a user encounters harassment or anything they feel violates sony相機收購sony’s rules around player behavior, they can submit up to a 40-second clip for sony相機收購sony’s moderation team to review. That will include 20 seconds of the potentially offending behavior as selected by the user, with 10 seconds before and 10 seconds after the selected segment for added context.

“These reports can be submitted directly through the PS5 console, and will be sent to our Consumer Experience team for moderation, who will then listen to the recording and take action, if needed. Some submitted reports won’t be valid, and our team will take this as an opportunity to provide guidance and education,” Jensen explains.

She goes on to say that there will not be the option to opt-out of voice chat recording, because sony相機收購sony wants “all users to feel safe when playing with others online, not just those who choose to enable it.”

sony相機收購sony is reportedly working to bring advertisements to free-to-play PlayStation games, according to a report by Insider. The ads would appear in games and are meant to give game developers a way to monetize their work and encourage them to continue building free-to-play games.

The in-game ads are expected to launch by the end of the year and would appear in inconspicuous places within the game, like billboards. Players could also get rewards for watching advertisements, and the ads would be sold through a private marketplace, Insider reports. Sources told Insider that sony相機收購sony hasn’t yet decided if it would take a portion of ad revenue but is considering having developers and publishers pay for consumer data.

sony相機收購sony did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Reports of sony相機收購sony’s plans follow news last week that Microsoft was reportedly planning on doing something similar with free-to-play Xbox games, also reported by Insider. Ads in free-to-play Xbox games are expected to roll out later this year, and Microsoft doesn’t plan to take a cut of revenue, sources told Insider.

As noted in the Insider report, advertisers may need some convincing to join the program. Ads that appear next to mature or violent content might be a concern, and tracking what users do after seeing an in-game ad could be difficult. The possibility of ads annoying gamers is also a concern for Microsoft, according to Insider.