Sony Crumbles Under Emulation Pressure

Sony buys out Connectix.

Posted by Staff
Sony Crumbles Under Emulation Pressure
Sony Computer Entertainment has announced that it has bought out emulation software manufacturer Connectix Corporation, producers of the PlayStation emulator Virtual Game Station, for an undisclosed amount.

The news comes two years after Connectix released its first PlayStation emulator for the Mac and signifies the end of the long running legal battle between the two companies.

"Our new agreement with SCE gives us the resources to move rapidly into a wide range of exciting new applications for our core emulation and virtual machine technologies", said Roy McDonald, President of Connectix. "We believe that this collaboration can lead to improved development tools, innovative consumer products and productive enterprise solutions."

Well you can always hope, Roy. It would be a massive shock if Sony didn’t instantly halt all further development for emulators of its hardware. Sony disagrees.

"We look forward to significant advances in emulation technology as a result of our cooperation with Connectix, who owns excellent technology in this field", assured Shinichi Okamoto, Senior Vice President of Research and Development for Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.

Sony has nothing to gain from continuing to support emulation of its hardware. The company cannot use the “bringing software to a wider user base” argument, as it has fought this stance, originally made by Connectix in the first court case with Sony.

It is thought that Sony will instead use Connectix’s expertise to make its hardware more difficult to crack.

It is interesting that electronics giant Sony was effectively held to ransom by Connectix, a relative minnow in the technologies pond. How this will affect future commercial emulation software makers remains to be seen.

Sony still has to wait for its day in court with Bleem, manufacturers of another high-profile PlayStation emulator for PC, and soon for Dreamcast.
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