Former PlayStation executive Shuhei Yoshida reveals he would have resisted Sony's controversial push into live-service gaming. Yoshida, head of SIE Worldwide Studios from 2008 to 2019, voiced concerns to Kinda Funny Games about the inherent risks Sony acknowledged in this investment.
This statement comes amidst significant challenges for PlayStation's live-service ventures. While Helldivers 2 achieved remarkable success, becoming the fastest-selling PlayStation Studios game ever with 12 million copies sold in just 12 weeks, other titles faced cancellation or disastrous launches.
Concord, a particularly notable failure, lasted only weeks before being shut down due to extremely low player counts. This resulted in a substantial financial loss for Sony, with Kotaku reporting an initial development investment of approximately $200 million, a sum insufficient to cover the entire development cost, IP rights, or acquisition of Firewalk Studios.
This follows the cancellation of Naughty Dog's The Last of Us multiplayer game and, recently, two unannounced live-service titles—one God of War project from Bluepoint Games and another from Bend Studio (Days Gone developers).
Yoshida, departing Sony after 31 years, hypothetically stated to Kinda Funny Games that, as current CEO Hermen Hulst, he would have resisted the live-service push. He emphasized the budgetary implications, suggesting that diverting resources from established franchises like God of War to unproven live-service titles was unwise. He noted that Sony provided additional resources after he left, allowing for parallel development of both single-player and live-service games. While acknowledging the inherent risk and the unpredictable nature of success in the competitive live-service market, he expressed hope for future success, citing Helldivers 2's unexpected triumph.
Sony's financial reports reflect this learning curve. President, COO, and CFO Hiroki Totoki highlighted lessons learned from both Helldivers 2's success and Concord's failure, emphasizing the need for earlier user testing and internal evaluations. Totoki also pointed to Sony's "siloed organization" and Concord's unfortunate release window near Black Myth: Wukong, potentially contributing to market cannibalization.
Senior vice president Sadahiko Hayakawa further emphasized the contrasting outcomes of Helldivers 2 and Concord, underscoring the importance of sharing lessons learned across studios, particularly regarding development management and post-launch content updates. He stressed the importance of a balanced portfolio combining Sony's established single-player strengths with calculated risks in the live-service arena.
Despite these setbacks, several PlayStation live-service games remain in development, including Bungie's Marathon, Guerrilla's Horizon Online, and Haven Studio's Fairgame$.
