Sony has announced that it will be giving away Journey and Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection for free, starting April 15. The games will be available for download through May 5 from the PlayStation Store. These free games are part of a new initiative started by Sony to provide people with entertainment during quarantine, and to give financial aid to indie studios affected by the coronavirus outbreak.
The “Play At Home” initiative started by Sony will help provide people with entertainment while in self-isolation and help developers that are suffering from quarantine. The initiative is being kicked off with a bang as Sony is providing two popular and critically acclaimed titles for anyone to download while staying at home.
This initiative and others like it are becoming more common in the industry, as other companies like Ubisoft are taking similar measures. Ubisoft has been giving away major installments in the Assassin’s Creed franchise to keep people entertained while in isolation. In February, the company let uPlay users download Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate at no cost. Today, Ubisoft is allowing uPlay users to download Assassin’s Creed II for free on PC until April 17.
While all of these games are only available to download for a short time, both Sony and Ubisoft have guaranteed that once the games are downloaded, they are yours to keep for as long as you want.
Sony is also working to help other developers make it through these hard times. “We have earmarked $10 million to support our independent development partners,” Sony said in its post. This fund could be a great relief to many indie developers that are struggling as a result of the COVID-19 crisis.
