When Sony released its latest version of Astro Bot last year it allowed gamers playing as the cute white robot to unlock bots in various guises, from the fungus-infected zombie in The Last of Us to the knife-wielding mercenary seen in Metal Gear Solid.
The merging of characters — intended to celebrate the 30-year history of the PlayStation console — is symbolic of an accelerating multibillion-dollar effort to squeeze more out of the Japanese tech giant’s vast gaming empire.
去年,索尼推出最新版《宇宙机器人》(Astro Bot)时,玩家操控这位可爱的白色小机器人,可以解锁不同造型的同伴机器人——从《最后生还者》(The Last of Us)中的真菌感染丧尸,到《合金装备》(Metal Gear Solid)里的持刀雇佣兵。这样的角色融合——旨在致敬PlayStation主机30年的历史——象征着这家日本科技巨头正加速推进一项数十亿美元级别的战略,力图从其庞大的游戏帝国中挖掘更多价值。