Summary
Shuhei Yoshida, the President of SIE Worldwide Studios from 2008 until 2019, was largely against Sony’s investment in live-servicePlayStationtitles. While some of these games have found success,PlayStationis currently dealing with a number of poor launches and canceled live-service projects as demand for the genre wavers.
Sony’s live-service titles released throughout 2024 saw vastly different levels of success, withHelldivers 2becoming the fastest-selling PlayStation Studios game in history, while the launch ofFirewalk Studios’Concordwas an absolute disasterfor the company.Concord’s servers were taken offline just two weeks after the 5v5 hero shooter’s release, with all sold copies refunded and the studio shuttered. The live-service model has become more common in recent years, though more and more players have expressed fatigue when it comes to constant updates and additions. Now, a well-known figure from PlayStation history is offering his two cents on the matter.
In a recent chat withKinda Funny Games, former PlayStation executive Shuhei Yoshida explained that the live-service model was risky, and that he would try to push back against Sony’s focus on the genre if he were the current CEO Hermen Hulst. “I’m sure they knew it was risky. The chance of a game becoming successful in this hugely competitive genre would be small,” Yoshida said. “Helldivers 2did so well. Nobody expected that. So you can’t plan a success in this industry. If I was in Hermen’s position, I would probably would have tried to resist that direction. Maybe that’s one of the reasons they removed me from the first-party!” Notably, Yoshida was one of the initial members of the PlayStation project launched in 1993, going on to produce massively popular titles for the console likeGran TurismoandApe Escape.
Former PlayStation Exec Was Against Sony’s Live-Service Push
Sony President Hiroki Totoki recently reported that the company had learned lessons from its 2024 live-service launches, detailing the conglomerate’s thoughts in a financial call. Notably, Totoki explained that Sony was still in the process of learning, with the release of new IP always a marked risk.RegardingConcord’s catastrophic launch, Totoki confessed that Sony should have noticed the game’s issues far earlier in its development, though he also noted that the game’s release window may have caused further issues.Concordlaunched just days after the hit SoulslikeBlack Myth: Wukong.
This month, industry insider Jason Schrier reported thatPlayStation had canceled two live-service games, including an unannounced action game byDays Gonedeveloper Bend Studio. The other canceled project was said to be a live-serviceGod of Wargame made by Bluepoint Games, the studio behind theDemon’s Soulsremake. It’s unclear whether Sony will continue to heavily advocate for live-service games going forward, though it has notably canceled several others recently, including aTwisted Metaltitle andThe Last of Us Online.
