Tech news picked on 2026-07-18
Sony to Stop Producing Discs in January 2028
- Sony announced it will stop producing physical discs for new PlayStation games starting January 2028.
- As console games move to digital-only, ownership changes to a licensing model.
- South Korea's limited used game market means the loss of resale rights may be felt less than in Europe.
- However, anxiety over purchased content disappearing from accounts ties directly to previous refund and terms disputes.
- Domestically, whether payment screen displays are accurate is likely to become a major issue.
- The European Court of Justice dismissed Google's final appeal on July 2, confirming the €4.1 billion Android antitrust fine.
- The ruling that forced pre-installation of Search and Chrome is abuse of dominance has been firmly established, tightening regulations on app distribution, alternative markets, and in-app payments.
- However, the ruling alone does not change the flow of money.
- Only teams prepared to change payment modules and distribution routes can keep the portions that previously left the platform as their own earnings.
Venture Investment Regulations to Be Lifted in the Second Half of the Year
- This article summarizes news that venture investment regulations will be lifted and R&D support will increase in the second half of 2026.
- However, the timing of regulations being lifted and the actual flow of money usually do not align.
- Even when provisions are enforced, review practices and internal standards tend to change with some delay.
- On the other hand, building customer data should begin now regardless of policy schedules to be effective.
- There seems to be little reason to wait until the second half.
How to Shape Your Story for Investors
- The article says early-stage founders are struggling to raise funding while money flows into AI startups.
- An Australian example shows that in 2023 Q2, investments of $300 million or more were made, and early-stage deals were mostly $250,000, from 50,000.
- Money flows to a few companies and to areas investors already expect to grow.
- Without a product, the entry ticket to receiving even a small check is linking the problem, the market, and the differentiator into one clear line of logic.
- This article takes Databricks' $188 billion valuation as an opportunity to examine the data analytics market and AI integration.
- However, simply adding AI does not automatically bring a high valuation.
- Investors tend to focus on companies that reduce data utilization costs and dependencies while maintaining trust.
- Collaboration is weak if it stops at merely sharing technology; it becomes meaningful when it leads to value that customers truly experience.