Sony Interactive Entertainment’s Play at Home initiative is returning for a second year, giving everyone 2016 Ratchet & Clank for PlayStation 4, as well as an extended free trial of Funimation for new subscribers to the anime streaming service.
SIE started Play at Home in April 2020, in the first weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic and the shutdowns, protection orders and quarantines it brought to the United States and Europe. The company then offered Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection and Journey everyone as an incentive to stay at home and maintain social distance. SIE also set aside $ 10 million to help its independent development partners, fighting financially against the effects of the global pandemic.
“The past 12 months have not been easy,” SIE Chief Executive Jim Ryan said in a statement. “And I think we are all hopeful that we can begin to see some flashes of light at the end of this long COVID-19 tunnel, thanks to the tireless work of the medical community and people around the world.”
Ryan said the game and the Funimation offer was a thank you to the PlayStation community for doing their part. Ratchet & Clank will be available from March 1st and free on PlayStation Store until June. More details will come on the duration of the Funimation trial (called Wakanim in continental Europe), and this advance offer will start on March 25.
Ratchet & Clank is part of the PlayStation Plus collection of 20 games, so those with a PS Plus subscription already own it. It was also offered as a free game for PlayStation Plus subscribers in March 2018.