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, expressed 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 titles. While Helldivers 2 achieved remarkable success, becoming the fastest-selling PlayStation Studios game ever with 12 million copies sold in just 12 weeks, other ventures have faltered.
Concord, a notable example, became a major setback, lasting only weeks due to extremely low player counts, ultimately leading to cancellation and the closure of its developer. This failure, costing Sony an estimated $200 million (according to Kotaku), follows the cancellation of Naughty Dog's The Last of Us multiplayer project and, recently, two unannounced live-service games from Bluepoint (a God of War title) and Bend Studio (the Days Gone developer).
Yoshida, departing Sony after 31 years, hypothetically stated that, as current CEO Hermen Hulst, he would have resisted the live-service strategy. He highlighted the resource allocation dilemma, questioning the wisdom of diverting funds from established franchises like God of War to potentially less-certain live-service projects. He acknowledged Sony's increased resource allocation post-his departure, allowing for parallel development of both single-player and live-service games. He emphasized the inherent risk and unpredictable nature of success in the competitive live-service market, citing Helldivers 2's unexpected triumph as an example.
Sony's financial reports reflect this learning curve. President, COO, and CFO Hiroki Totoki attributed Concord's failure to delayed user testing and internal evaluations, advocating for earlier implementation of these quality control measures. He also pointed to Sony's "siloed organization" and Concord's unfortunate release window near the launch of Black Myth: Wukong as contributing factors.
Senior vice president Sadahiko Hayakawa further emphasized the contrasting outcomes of Helldivers 2 and Concord, highlighting the valuable lessons learned regarding development management and post-launch content scaling. He stressed Sony's future strategy will balance its proven single-player strengths with calculated risks in the live-service arena.
Despite setbacks, several PlayStation live-service games are still under development, including Bungie's Marathon, Guerrilla's Horizon Online, and Haven Studio's Fairgame$.
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