Sony President Hiroki Totoki said the company is reconsidering its push for PlayStation live service games amid development troubles that have already caused Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us multiplayer game to suffer setbacks.
Totoki said during the earnings conference that Sony is reviewing the 12 live service PlayStation games currently in development, and has promised to release just six of them by the end of fiscal 2025, or the end of March 2026. He said that He has six live services left. He added that he is still considering when the game will be released, adding that he is “not obsessed with any particular title, but quality is of paramount importance to gamers.” It should be,” he added.
Sony announced in February 2022 that it planned to launch more than 10 live service games by March 2026, but later said that this would bring games from different genres to different audiences. Stated. As part of this, the company has spent a lot of money acquiring studios, bringing in Destiny developer Bungie, Jade Raymond’s Haven Studios, and Firewalk Studios. Sony reportedly worked with Bungie, which has live services expertise for the Destiny series, to evaluate its portfolio and scaled back some live services projects as a result.
One of those projects is The Last of Us multiplayer game, which is still MIA. The game director said in early November that he was still working on the game, sparking new hopes that it might eventually be released.
What else do we know about PlayStation’s live service push? Bungie is working on Marathon, a PvP-focused sci-fi extraction shooter. Haven Studios is developing Fairgame$, a competitive heist game about robbing the ultra-wealthy. Firewalk Studios is working on another of his sci-fi PvP multiplayer games, Concord. There’s also Guerrilla’s Horizon multiplayer game and London Studio’s co-op action game for PlayStation.
PlayStation Studios boss Herman Hulst acknowledged in May that Sony faces stiff competition between live service games and the time investment they take away from players. “There is a risk of talking about ‘live services’ in general terms, as if it were a single genre or a single business model,” he said.
“PlayStation Studios creates a variety of games that can be called ‘live services,’ targeting different genres, different release schedules, and different scales. We also create games for a variety of audiences, and we’re proud of our track record of creating worlds and stories that PlayStation fans love. Each studio’s priority is to deliver unique projects and make the best games possible. ”
PlayStation’s live service issues come amid some turmoil within Sony Interactive Entertainment. Bungie suffered devastating layoffs due to his lack of engagement with Destiny, and Dreams and LittleBigPlanet developer Media Molecule also suffered layoffs. PlayStation President Jim Ryan also plans to retire next spring.
Still, Insomniac’s recently released single-player adventure Spider-Man 2 is seen as a huge success, and the PlayStation 5 has edged out console rivals Xbox Series X and S in terms of unit sales.
Wesley is IGN’s UK News Editor. Find @wyp100 on Twitter. Wesley can be contacted at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.