INZONE Buds

This video announces the INZONE Buds.

An animated INZONE logo appears.

An animated Fnatic logo appears.

We hear the sound of a slowly building ambient electronic music track and the cheer of a crowd, under the voices of from various Fnatic players. A montage of scenes shows the players travelling, then getting set up and focused at the start of a game match. There are also shots of the crowd with signs reading things like "FNC Win".

Various Fnatic members:

"It all starts with a feeling.

The roar of the crowd thundering through the stadium.

The static in the air.

Each step towards the stage.

Sometimes glory can come down to decisions made in a fraction of a second,

and instincts that have taken years to refine.

The difference between a win and a loss can be as small as hearing the enemy's approaching footsteps.

We're always looking for what will give us that extra 1%."

SAM MATHEWS, Founder and CEO Fnatic, talks in the studio, with cut-aways showing Fnatic members being shown the INZONE Buds by engineers in a Sony demo space.

"As many of you know, Fnatic has been at the forefront of esports for the last 20 years.

More than that, we understand all aspects of performance for gamers, from hardware to the software integration.

When we were approached by Sony INZONE to help on their new earbud, designed for gamers,

we were delighted to share our insights and experience from the highest level of gaming, to improve the product for everyone."

JAKE 'BOASTER' HOWLETT, professional VALORANT player, talks in the studio with images of collaborating with Sony members.

"Just before Valorant Masters in Tokyo, we were invited to Sony's product development facility to get our hands on some top secret tech.

Honestly, truth be told, the Sony INZONE earbuds are kind of sick."

A shot of the INZONE Buds case appears, transforming from the black to the white colour as they move towards the camera. An ‘INZONE Buds’ title is obscured by the case as it fills the screen. Various close-up shots show the case from different angles, then it opens, with a glowing blue light. Close up shots pan past the Buds themselves outside the case, revealing the ‘INZONE Buds’ title again.

The shot returns to Boaster talking in the studio, with cutaways of the earbuds and Boaster and other Fnatic members wearing them, and providing feedback to Sony engineers.

BOASTER:

“They’re designed by gamers for gamers, they have insane audio quality, sleek design.

I’m super excited to be wearing them when they actually finally get released, So... hurry up, Sony.

The people at Sony were super welcoming and respected all our feedback.

I guess some of the advice was being able to hear those footsteps. It’s super important in-game.

They took us all very seriously. I’d say Chronicle was probably the most vocal when it came to feedback. He’s definitely the biggest nerd out of all of us."

TIMOFEY ‘CHRONICLE’ KHROMOV, professional VALORANT player, talks in the studio. Cutaway shots show the dongle breaking away from a tangle of cables, and close-up shots of a player wearing INZONE Buds.

“I think the killer feature of the new earbuds that Sony will release soon, I think it's just low latency.

I really like this one because you can use the dongle to connect to PC and you'll get the low latency and you also can do that on mobile smartphones that has USB Type-C® port.”

The series of interviews continue in the studio with other members of Fnatic, interspersed with cutaways of the INZONE Buds being worn and handled by the members.

LEO ‘LEO’ JANNESSON, professional VALORANT player

“Low latency in Valorant, it's obviously very important. You want to be giving yourself the best opportunities.”

NIKITA ‘DERKE’ SIRMITEV, professional VALORANT player.

“It makes most difference for example, in clutching when you're in 1v1 situations and you want to have that perfect edge against your opponent in hearing some stuff like a footstep or just like,

or just talking with your teammates when they're saying some important communication.”

BOASTER:

“It was nice to see how positive they were about the equipment, especially the earbuds. I think that's something that most companies haven't really focused on.

Yet, a lot of people actually would prefer to use earbuds than actual headphones.”

EMIR ‘ALFAJER’ ALI BEDER, professional VALORANT player.

“Sony developed the most power efficient built-in chipset so you can enjoy up to 12 hours of gaming without charging.”

CHRONICLE:

“I will not talk some pretty specific terms or something else, you just need to know 12 hours and you still can play the game. It's pretty cool.”

DERKE:

“Specially engineered ergonomic design allows maximum comfort for those long sessions,”

ALFAJER:

“With less pressure applied to the ear and less irritation.

I can feel like if you are using this 12 or 13 hours in the day, it's not going to hurt your ears and they fit well as well,

and they are really comfortable for me.”

DERKE:

“These earbuds have really good sound quality, especially for the games and music, whatever you want and it helps a lot with custom equalisers so you can do custom modes in the Sony INZONE hub.”

BOASTER:

“I'd say the earbuds are definitely of high, high, plus, plus, plus quality.”

CHRONICLE:

“Immerse yourself in 360° audio, especially for the moments when you're playing clutches or 1v1 moments.

Catch rivals off guard with spatial sound design, you can hear openings of gun reloads, you can hear someone where they should not be and also you can hear everyone at precise locations more accurately than ever.”

DERKE:

“Sony developed their noise reduction algorithm from over 500 million voice samples.

On or off the server, Sony have made it easy to control your earbuds with just the tap of your fingers.

Wherever you are, you can get in the zone.”

The INZONE Buds rotate in a white case as the case opens. The white case then appears to split into the available white and black versions for a final product shot with the title “INZONE Buds INTO YOUR ZONE”.

The INZONE Buds fade and are replaced by the full screen titles “REFINED FOR VICTORY. ADVISED BY FNATIC.”

The video closes with the animated Sony logo.