Sony Interactive Entertainment, or SIE if you're running late, is set to acquire Audeze, a company specialising in audio technology and headphones. The cost of the acquisition hasn't been disclosed.
If you're unfamiliar, Audeze manufactures several lines of high-end headphones, including gaming headsets. It also develops its own audio tech, such as its own planar magnetic technology. When the acquisition closes, Audeze will fall under the SIE umbrella, but it'll continue to operate independently and make multi-platform devices while "benefiting from being a part of the PlayStation ecosystem".
Sony's Hideaki Nishino talks up the company in a statement on the deal: "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," he says. "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."
This news comes just after Sony announced two new wireless PlayStation audio devices: the over-ear headset Pulse Elite, and the Pulse Explore earbuds. These headphones also work in tandem with PlayStation Link, which is a new wireless audio solution that lets them connect to supported devices — including PlayStation Portal — and Bluetooth at the same time. It's unknown if these headphones were developed in tandem with Audeze, but it would make a lot of sense given the timing.
It's an interesting move from Sony, anyway. The platform holder has been putting more and more emphasis on top notch audio for PlayStation, and this is a clear step to keep that going. What do you think? Let us know in the comments section below.
[source businesswire.com]
Comments 52
Single player games studios please.
@BamBamBaklava89 while there at it , hopefully show us some new single player first party titles
Acquiring the entire company was probably cheaper in the long term than licencing that planar magnetic tech.
Curious to see if they helped develop PS Link as well.
Lol at these comments. Sony does a lot of stuff, doesn’t mean they’ll forget your precious games . Chill
@KaijuKaiser Right? It’s like people forgot Sony makes electronics outside of PlayStation.
Interesting move if you're a headphones nerd. I spend a lot of $ on a high-end headphones rig for PS5 gaming (Arya + Hel 2) but I feel like that's unusual.
This is an interesting move. I've never heard of Audeze before, but I'm assuming this acquisition (made by SIE, not the parent company) will lead to better audio gear for PlayStations. I'll admit I have no idea what Audeze can do for PlayStation audio Sony itself couldn't do, though.
@TheCollector316 Audeze makes very expensive (and rather heavy) headphones for people who spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on DACs and Amps. One would guess this will lead to PlayStation selling $500+ planar magnetic headphones.
@General_Disarray Yeah but this is SIE making the acquisition rather than the mothership. I guess these "elite" controllers are selling well and they see $$$ in developing more luxury accessories.
@VaultGuy415 and your point? SIE is still Sony so what’s it matter if it’s the mothership or SIE?
Ugh, just acquire Square Enix already.
I find it odd that it was the PlayStation division to make this acquisition rather than the whole of Sony, who already has a best-in-class audio/headphones division.
@General_Disarray The point is that they made the acquisition for the PlayStation platform, and not to complement the consumer audio product line.
@IOI I agree, it's surprising. What Audeze does is on another level of price & performance compared to, say, Pulse 3D, so I think this is a play to get wealthier PS gamers to shell out even more $.
@theSpectre not sure they will go after square thought it would have happened by now.
@VaultGuy415
Perhaps so, but why couldn't they do that already? It's not like Sony is a slouch in audio technology.
Edit: Audeze holds some nice patents Sony would want.
@VaultGuy415 well then it sounds like PlayStation gamers can look forward to some premium audio products!
Good, Audeze make some of the best headphones on planet, nothing beats planars (except maybe electrostatics). I'm curious to see if this will lead to mor affordable planars outside of Monoprice and lower end Hifiman sets.
Removed - unconstructive
@TheCollector316 I don't believe Sony makes any headphones with planar magnetic transducers. If you're curious about what these sound like, you could pick up something like a Hifiman 400SE on Amazon with the intention of returning it.
@VaultGuy415 I think you're on to something there re wealthier gamers and it's something I've been thinking about too.
The console market has hardly grown since the 90s, we've just been spending more and more money.
At some point that spending has to plateau and you need other ways to stretch the profit margins.
Cornering the high end market while continuing to cater to everyone else would certainly be one way to contribute towards that effort.
Audeze nuts
Ha
SIE further gives the impression they have only 3 priorities:
That nothing else matters to them.
They are a great headphone company. Never got to listen and test a pair myself. But i would like too. They run a little over $300 and get great reviews. So this is a premium brand for sure.
Sony I’m tried of hearing about hardware when we gonna hear about games again 😡.
@homelesscretin Dang it you beat me to it dude
@Americansamurai1 Touche. I, honestly, don't want to see any publishers getting acquired. I don't think Sony, MS, or Nintendo should be in that business. But I would support Sony buying them if it would block MS from acquiring them and blocking the games from Playstation. We've seen that MS is completely of the mind that they will pettily buy up publishers just to keep one game off of Playstation. Could you imagine a scenario where Final Fantasy is exclusive to Xbox? The series would die off immediately.
Interesting that Sony wants Audeze Nuts
Great someone beat me to it
@theSpectre the series also wouldn't survive solely on PlayStation either, this isn't the ps1 era anymore.
Half life 3 confirmed!
@ArcticSin xbox dudes don’t buy final fantasy games final fantasy 15 only sold 1 million copies on xbox lol 😂. Majority of final fantasy games sales come from PlayStation.
@theSpectre yeah would be pretty insane to see Microsoft buy really any of the big Japanese publishers. I think the Japanese government would try and stop it though.
I won't be suprised if Microsoft acquires Bose in response to this acquisition by Sony.
@IOI best in class? Audio is highly subjective and for me Sony is far from best in any class of audio, so maybe this helps the gaming line but they had a chance to buy Sennheiser back in 2021. That would have helped them in all phases of audio. Instead Sennheiser was sold off to a hearing aid company for a bargain at $240 million.
Xbox people out hear saying this is equivalent to ABK and Bethesda if not more disruptive
Not sure what to make of audeze acquisitions.
@TheCollector316 Audeze is huge in the pro audio market. Their headphones are used by some of the top producers in the world. This acquisition genuinely scares me as I’m worried the quality might dip, as Sony might push them in a more consumer-focused direction a la Blue Microphones.
@Fighting_Game_Loser Honestly surprised that it wasn't the first thing that popped to mind for people😂. Was shocked to see that no one had said it. So shocked that after years of reading Push Square without commenting, I finally caved in and made an account just to post a deez nuts 😅
Audeze Maxwell seems like the to-go-to wireless gaming headset. Still can't beat a high end pair of wired cans though + a dac.
@homelesscretin OK I'll give you that one 😂
@4kgk2 and that's 1 million sales that never would have been made had it never come to Xbox. Another 1-2 million never would have been made had it never come to PC/Steam. I doubt Square would be willing to just drop those systems for an exclusivity deal and leave out millions of sales.
Although I say that but Kingdom Hearts 3 still has yet to come to Steam...
Audeez Nuts! Ha goteem
@4kgk2 Xbox dudes don't buy games period. They've been conditioned to only play games on Game Pass. Remember Rise of the Tomb Raider's infamous exclusivity? The game nearly bombed and only became a success when it launched on PS4, which it should have done originally. And that was before Game Pass.
@Americansamurai1 Money talks as we saw with the judge in CA who's son works for MS. I'm sure Japanese companies would sell if the offer were high enough. But I hate that we've gotten to the point where this is what we are debating and I fully blame MS for starting this for buying a company solely to keep 1 game away from PS5.
Now I get where Sony picked up those planar magnetic drivers in newly announced headsets...
@theSpectre sadly I think the game industry will end up like the film industry with just 3-4 major players.
@Americansamurai1 One could argue it's already there.
Interesting purchase. Absolutely love my pair of LCD-X.
Oh great, I'd better buy new leathers for my damaged LCD2 pads before Sony Sony's it and discontinues selling them.
Weird purchase for SIE. They don't really do much related to anything I'd think PS would need. Seems more like Sony buying an audio market competitor to stifle it than anything PS related. Sony buying a competing hi-fi company makes sense. Playstation buying a hi-fi company is bizarre. The only thing they have in common is the PS5 is big enough to be a tube amp.
@theSpectre wait until tencent and the Saudi gov starts buying everything, Microsoft has open the floodgates and it's going to get insane
@Americansamurai1 Exactly why the ABK deal should have been blocked. Again, I blame MS and their greed.
@Grumblevolcano Nothing wrong with TV/movies of PS IP. It can help fund more 200 million games.
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