Shortly after the launch of the PS5, Sony provided a jarring revelation that PlayStation would be attempting to publish more than 10 live service games by 2026, with Bungie overseeing the company’s transition and acting as a support team.
Sony’s move here is likely an attempt at making substantially more money than the company could ever dream possible with microtransaction-free single-player titles. However, a recent report from Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier puts this problem into perspective and how the company has its hands full with a monumental task.
How are Sony’s live service plans doing today?
Sony’s attempts at live service aren’t going well. With Schreier reporting that Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us live-service title was being “scaled back,” alongside the company’s recent PlayStation Showcase failing to show gameplay of announced multiplayer games like Fairgame$, Marathon, and Concord. We have yet to see good news regarding Sony’s future in live-service.
But recently, Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan stepped down from the company after being in this position since 2019. Schreier provided an in-depth explainer on why gamers were cheering about Ryan’s departure, but one snippet of the article is being focused on throughout the internet.
Schreier claims that “some insiders are worried about the company’s lack of coherent vision,” in particular concerned about “misplaced bets on service games.” It’s a vague quote, but if the insiders are referring to Sony employees, it means that people within the company have no more faith in this future than any of us do. Unfortunately, this statement was not the focus of the article, so it’s all we have right now.
It’s also possible that these claims are being hyper-fixated on and that was not quite what the article meant, but for now, it seems as if PlayStation employees are equally worried. And even then, is that much of a surprise? Sony exceeded expectations during the previous generation, and it has begun this one with a similar degree of success.
The company’s attempts to shift its focus should make anyone worry, especially when it’s with something as volatile as the live-service market. All too often does a big multiplayer game from an AAA publisher come out and get shut down within months. And nowadays, games like Sega’s Hyenas are being canceled before they even launch. Not everything can be Fortnite, and if PlayStation continues to chase after that miracle of a success, the result might not be pretty.
