Former PlayStation executive Shuhei Yoshida reveals he would have resisted Sony's controversial push into live-service gaming. Yoshida, who led SIE Worldwide Studios from 2008 to 2019, expressed concerns to Kinda Funny Games about the inherent risks Sony acknowledged in this investment.
This statement arrives amidst significant challenges for PlayStation's live-service titles. While Helldivers 2 achieved remarkable success, becoming the fastest-selling PlayStation Studios game ever with 12 million units sold in just 12 weeks, other ventures have faltered.
Concord, a notable example, became one of PlayStation's biggest gaming failures, lasting mere weeks before being shut down due to extremely low player numbers. The project, reportedly costing around $200 million in initial development (a figure that didn't cover the entire development cost, IP rights, or Firewalk Studios acquisition, according to Kotaku), proved a costly setback. This followed the cancellation of Naughty Dog's The Last of Us multiplayer game and, more recently, two unannounced live-service titles—a God of War project from Bluepoint and another from Bend Studio (Days Gone developers).
Yoshida, departing Sony after 31 years, speculated in the Kinda Funny Games interview that, were he in Hermen Hulst's (current Sony Interactive Entertainment Studio Business Group CEO) position, he would have resisted the live-service push. He highlighted the resource allocation dilemma: diverting funds from established franchises like God of War to potentially risky live-service ventures. However, he acknowledged that Sony provided increased resources after his departure, aiming to support both single-player and live-service projects concurrently. He emphasized the inherent risk and unpredictable nature of success in this competitive market, citing Helldivers 2's unexpected triumph.
Sony's financial call offered further insights. Hiroki Totoki (Sony president, COO, and CFO) discussed lessons learned from both Helldivers 2's success and Concord's failure, emphasizing the need for earlier user testing and internal evaluations. He also pointed to Sony's "siloed organization" and Concord's release window (close to Black Myth: Wukong) as contributing factors to its poor performance. Sadahiko Hayakawa (Sony senior vice president for finance and IR) echoed this sentiment, highlighting the contrasting outcomes and the intention to share these lessons across studios to improve development and post-launch support for live-service games. The company plans a balanced portfolio combining its strong single-player titles with live-service ventures, acknowledging the inherent risks involved.
Despite these setbacks, several PlayStation live-service games are still under development, including Bungie's Marathon, Guerrilla's Horizon Online, and Haven Studio's Fairgame$.
