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Sony Electronics is launching a gaming equipment brand called Inzone, aimed at computer gamers. The company announced its new brand on Tuesday with two 27-inch monitors and three variants of gaming headphones.
Inzone has been in operation since 2019 – before the pandemic – as Sony executives saw growth in the video game and e-sports industries.
“We are entering the gaming equipment industry with monitors and headphones at an exciting time as games and e-sports have become even more popular in the last few years,” Kazuo Kii, Sony’s president of home entertainment and sound products, told The Washington Post. “We use Sony’s high-quality displays and audio technology to deliver products that will allow gamers to immerse themselves in their gaming world.”
The brand name, Kee said, is intended to refer to the immersive feeling gamers experience when they are “in the zone.”
Allowed to be late in the computer game market, Sony plans to win players through competitively priced products. Sony plans to sell a $ 899 4K resolution monitor with a refresh rate of 144 hertz, available this summer, and a $ 109p 1080p monitor with a refresh rate of 240 hertz, which will appear later this year.
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The Japanese conglomerate hopes that computer gamers – especially first-person shooter players – will give Inzone a chance, rather than connecting Sony primarily to consoles. The brand name is intended to refer to the immersive feeling that gamers experience when they are “in the zone”, according to Kii.
“We’re not saying we’re not focusing on PS5 users. But because we are late with monitors and headphones for [the] gaming segment, we believe we have a chance to catch up, ”said Kie. He added that he hopes that Sony can catch up by turning to leading competitive gamers and influential people who could use Inzone products and promote them to their audiences.
“I believe that if top players from top companies mention ‘Oh, Sony’s Inzone is great,’ we can catch up,” Kie said.
Although Sony hopes to attract computer gamers, it has not abandoned users of the PlayStation 5. Aesthetically, monitors and headphones are designed to merge with the PS5, if users happen to have one. Both monitors work with the PS5, which will optimize the colors of the screen after connection. The monitors also have a switching feature that allows users to connect a keyboard, mouse and headphones to a computer and PS5 at the same time and switch between the two.
Sony’s approach to gaming headphones is to try to see which of their options resonate with consumers. The company will offer $ 299 wireless headphones with noise cancellation and synthetic leather, along with discounted wireless headphones for $ 229 (without leather or noise canceling) and a pair of wired headphones for $ 99. Kii said all three pairs will be equipped with a spatial sound field function; gamers will be able to hear how far opponents are from them and where they are based on sound signals.
The headphones are also designed to be less tight around the ears so that players can wear them comfortably for hours.
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The launch of the new brand comes shortly after the Xbox announced in early June that it was trying to woo Japanese developers who traditionally work more with the PlayStation. While Inzone is aiming for a gaming community more commonly associated with Windows PC and Xbox, Kii has denied that the brand’s launch was an attempt to compete with the Xbox audience, saying many players use multiple gaming devices.
The Inzone hardware is based on Sony’s current offerings for TVs, monitors and noise-canceling headphones, adapting this technology to appeal to gamers. The company has not yet decided whether it plans to offer hardware other than monitors and headphones under the Inzone brand, according to Kii.
Inzone will be bundled with a software program called Inzone hub so users can access and change settings such as lighting and bass.
“Sony’s gaming division, PlayStation, is focused primarily on the console gaming market,” said Daniel Ahmad, senior analyst at research firm Niko Partners. “Recently, the company has been striving to reach a wider demographics for gamers outside the console, starting with those who play computer games. Asia is a region in the world where console games are lower than computer and mobile games. As Asia is a critical market for the gaming industry, Sony is finding ways to cope with this market outside of consoles with this move. “
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