Sony announces the end of support for Musk’s social network on its consoles
In a decision that marks the end of an era, Sony has officially announced that its PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 consoles will stop supporting integration with the recently renamed social media platform “X,” formerly known as Twitter. This decision follows Twitter tycoon Elon Musk’s $44 billion acquisition of Twitter, which was followed by a series of controversial events. The notification sent to PS5 users today specifies that starting November 13, interaction with the X platform will no longer be possible through the consoles mentioned. This is a change that includes watching and posting content on X, as well as sharing trophies and other related in-game activities. This change represents a significant step back from the social sharing functionality introduced with the PS4 in 2013, which even had a dedicated button on the DualShock 4 controller for quickly capturing and sharing images on social media, primarily Twitter.
Direct integration with social platforms had transformed the way players interacted with video games, making it easier to share secrets, spoilers, and gameplay discoveries. While sharing gaming moments won’t become impossible with the end of Twitter integration, this represents a further sign of the decline of the current Internet ecosystem, where platforms like YouTube and Facebook no longer seem to offer the same constantly updated feed service which was once the trademark of Twitter. Sony suggests users use the dedicated PlayStation app for iOS and Android to automatically sync images from consoles and then repost them online, create videos on TikTok, or share them on favorite Discord servers. Microsoft stopped integrating with Twitter in April of that year, after Musk expressed intent to start charging for access to the platform’s API, which is essential for integration between services. These events fit into a broader context of abandonment of the platform by celebrities, brands and ordinary users, with an estimated 13 percent drop in annual users, a 50 percent reduction in advertising revenue and a market valuation that now appears more than $20 billion lower than the purchase price paid by Musk.
Source-www.adnkronos.com