Free Games: Sony Offers Two Popular PS4 Games for Free to Ease Covid-19 Woes

Sony PlayStation 4 owners are in for a treat, in what surely comes as a rare bit of good news in times of the Covid-19 pandemic. Announcing the Play At Home initiative through an official blog post, Sony has revealed that millions of PlayStation 4 owners worldwide will now be able to download two game collections for absolutely free, as a sign of support from Sony Corp to its customer ecosystem. Beginning yesterday, April 16 and valid until May 6, PS4 owners will be able to download the entire Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection, as well as Journey, for absolutely free. The best part? The games will not expire from user libraries after a point, and are actually free for as long as they are kept.

Jim Ryan, president and chief executive of Sony Interactive Entertainment, further announced an initiative to support independent game developers during these trying times by announcing a financial aid of $10 million for them. He said during the announcement, "Independent developers are vital to the heart and soul of the gaming community and we understand the hardships and financial struggles that many smaller gaming studios are facing. With that, SIE has developed a fund to support them during this time. We have earmarked $10 million to support our independent development partners. More information about the fund, including participation criteria, will be made available soon."

Sony's offer of the free games actually include four full games, with the Uncharted: Nathan Drake Collection including Drake's Fortune, Among Thieves and Drake's Deception, three highly acclaimed titles in the PlayStation-exclusive Uncharted title. While the final edition, Uncharted 4: Thief's End is often regarded as the best edition of the three, Sony's offer will still be welcomed among the PlayStation ecosystem. With Journey also being a well acclaimed title, the free games offer will apply to millions around the world, who are part of the PlayStation 4 ecosystem.

Sony is set to launch its next generation console, the PlayStation 5, with recent reports suggesting that the PS5 may actually see very limited availability upon launch. The new console will directly rival Microsoft's Xbox Series X, and is likely to be significantly more expensive than the outgoing PlayStation 4 Pro. However, given that the PS5 does come with backward compatibility, users will be happy to note that their entire collection of PlayStation 4 games will remain active even in PS5.