iWorld
Voot Studios, Deutsche Welle renew content partnership
Mumbai: Streaming service Voot’s brand solutions arm Voot Studios has renewed its partnership with German broadcaster Deutsche Welle for a second year. Voot will showcase various content on its platform starting 17 June with Choices.
A seven-episode series starring encouraging mentors such as Padma Shri awardee Sakshi Malik, pathbreaker Prashasti Singh and artistic director Ashley Lobo, ‘Choices – Dare 2 Dream’ will showcase young Indians get challenged by these role models to live their fantasy life for a few days. The series aims to highlight the inspiring journey of these role models who with pure passion have created their own path and pursued their calling outside of societal norms.
“At Voot, it is our constant endeavour to provide our users with content that is diverse in nature while at the same time relevant along with a universal appeal,” said Viacom18 Digital Ventures head AVOD (Voot) Chanpreet Arora. “Our partnership with Deutsche Welle, last year, successfully struck a chord with our viewers, thereby helping us to widen our content library and meet the growing content demands. Unique in its concept, Choices successfully captures the increasing aspirations of the millions of ambitious and enterprising Indians who are given an opportunity to live their dreams, away from the notions of age or gender, making it extremely relatable and intriguing for our viewers. We are happy to associate with them and look forward to exploring and deepening this existing relationship once again.”
“It has always been our intent to make our content widely accessible and our partnership with Voot last year provided us with this excellent opportunity,” said DW in Asia distribution manager Daniel Schulz. “We are once again excited to collaborate with them and reach out to India’s diverse audience with our fresh, relevant, engaging and universally appealing content. With shows like Choices, we aim to bring forth stories that deserve to be narrated and manage to strike a chord with viewers on Voot.”
“India has always been a key market offering tremendous opportunities to narrate stories that deserve universal attention. Through Choices, we at DW, aim to showcase content that encourages and inspires viewers to acknowledge and appreciate the tough life of India’s young role models who have excelled in their fields and carved their own path,” said DW distribution representative for India, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh Jaya Oberoi. “We are thrilled to launch Choices on Voot and look forward to reaching out to our target audience through a long-term fruitful association.” said Jaya Oberoi, DW Distribution Representative for India, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh.
Gaming
Sony raises PS5 prices for second time in under a year
US disc edition jumps $100 to $649.99 as memory costs surge.
MUMBAI: Sony just hit the pause button on affordable gaming because when memory prices skyrocket, even the Playstation has to pay the premium. Sony has announced its second price increase for the Playstation 5 range in less than a year, citing pressures in the global economic landscape and a sharp rise in memory component costs driven by AI demand.
In the US, the PS5 disc edition will rise from $549.99 to $649.99, a $100 hike while the digital edition increases to $599.99. The more powerful PS5 Pro will jump $150 to $899.99. The Playstation Portal remote player will also rise by $50 to $249.99. The new prices take effect on 2 April 2026.
Similar increases have been applied in the UK (£90 per model), Europe and Japan. Sony last raised PS5 prices in the US in August 2025.
“We know that price changes impact our community, and after careful evaluation, we found this was a necessary step to ensure we can continue delivering innovative, high-quality gaming experiences to players worldwide,” Sony said in a blog post.
The hikes come amid an unprecedented surge in memory prices, as manufacturers prioritise supply for AI data centres. Analysts say Sony had likely secured price protections for components that have now expired, forcing the company to protect its hardware margins.
Ampere Analysis research director of games Piers Harding-Rolls told CNBC that further increases from Microsoft and Nintendo would not be surprising, though Nintendo may hesitate to raise the price of its recently launched Switch 2 while establishing the new platform.
The increases arrive eight months before the highly anticipated release of GTA 6, which is expected to drive strong console sales. However, early reactions online have been a mix of disappointment and resignation, with growing concern that premium gaming is increasingly becoming a hobby for higher-income players.
In a sector already grappling with tariffs, inflation and component shortages, Sony’s move underscores a tough reality: even the most popular consoles are not immune to the rising cost of keeping up with the latest technology.
