Former PlayStation executive Shuhei Yoshida reveals he would have resisted Sony's controversial live service game push, citing inherent risks. Yoshida, SIE Worldwide Studios president from 2008-2019, expressed concerns to Kinda Funny Games about the financial allocation strategy.
This statement comes amidst a period of significant challenges for PlayStation's live service ventures. While Helldivers 2 achieved remarkable success, selling 12 million copies in 12 weeks, other titles like Concord faced disastrous launches and subsequent cancellations. Concord, a $200 million project (according to Kotaku), lasted only weeks due to extremely low player numbers, resulting in the closure of its developer. This followed the cancellation of Naughty Dog's The Last of Us multiplayer game and, more recently, two unannounced live service titles.
Yoshida, departing Sony after 31 years, hypothetically positioned himself as current CEO Hermen Hulst, suggesting a more cautious approach. He argued that diverting resources from established franchises like God of War to less certain live service projects was a questionable strategy. While acknowledging Sony's increased investment in live service games after his departure, he maintains that the inherent risk of success in this competitive market is significant. He believes that the success of Helldivers 2 was unexpected and that success in this industry is difficult to predict.
Sony's financial reports reflect this mixed experience. President, COO, and CFO Hiroki Totoki highlighted lessons learned from both Helldivers 2's success and Concord's failure. He emphasized the need for earlier user testing and internal evaluations, suggesting that Concord's problems should have been identified and addressed much sooner. Totoki also pointed to Sony's "siloed organization" and Concord's unfortunate release window near Black Myth: Wukong, potentially leading to market cannibalization, as contributing factors.
Senior vice president Sadahiko Hayakawa further underscored the contrasting outcomes of Helldivers 2 and Concord, emphasizing the importance of sharing lessons learned across studios to improve development management and post-launch content strategies. He outlined a future strategy balancing the predictability of successful single-player titles with the higher-risk, higher-reward potential of live service games.
Despite these setbacks, several PlayStation live service games remain in development, including Bungie's Marathon, Guerrilla's Horizon Online, and Haven Studio's Fairgame$.
