Service that’s always running. It’s a phrase that sends shivers down the spine of every PlayStation enthusiast, and it turns out their intense reactions were indeed warranted.
During the tenure of former CEO Jim Ryan, PlayStation expressed its strategy to aggressively enter the live service market – aiming to develop blockbuster games for PS5 that would generate extraordinary revenue. It’s true that many aspire to grab a share of this profitable sector; however, Sony decided to take bold steps and invest heavily in this endeavor.
Despite fierce critiques from devoted fans who had witnessed the company’s dominance in the last console era due to their incredible single-player hits, it proved impossible to alter course given the massive scale of contemporary AAA game development.
Instead of continuing with those two ongoing live service projects, Sony is currently in the process of cancelling them. In case you haven’t heard, this decision has been made by the company regarding the teams Bluepoint (known for Shadow of the Colossus and Demon’s Souls remakes) and Bend Studio (the creators of Days Gone).
It turns out that we were largely unaware of the details surrounding these projects, and it’s hard to imagine, but Bluepoint was secretly developing a live-service God of War title for Sony’s PlayStation Studios. However, the mismanagement within these first-party studios is becoming increasingly apparent and concerning.
Based on the recent announcements, it’s clear that Sony had heavily invested in its live service initiatives, to the point where one might say they were putting almost everything on the line. Let me emphasize this: an enormous amount of resources will have been dedicated to these ventures, and the same applies to Naughty Dog’s now-cancelled The Last of Us multiplayer project.
Instead of Naughty Dog having just one ongoing project, they have the capacity to manage two concurrent projects. One such project is “Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet,” a solo, cinematic adventure that serves as an alternative. However, for Bluepoint and Bend Studio, investing years into the live service model seems to have been in vain, as it appears they’ve achieved nothing of significant value from their efforts in this direction.
That’s when you begin to tally everything up. For instance, the $3.6 billion acquisition of Bungie – a developer who couldn’t purchase a favorable headline no matter how hard they tried. Then there was the caution sign that was Destruction AllStars, which has since been pushed aside into obscurity. Lastly, the astonishing Concord saga, where the live service shooter’s life support system was turned off only two weeks after its release.
By the way, let’s not overlook the supposedly challenging ventures like Marathon (Bungie), the long-discussed Horizon live service, and Fairgame$. It seems these projects aren’t in the best shape at the moment, doesn’t it? Particularly when Sony is abandoning a live service God of War game.
At present, the sum Sony has invested in this failing venture is likely beyond our grasp to fully appreciate. Countless skilled developers have spent countless hours laboring on these projects; the facade of their live service model – what remnants remained – has now been irrevocably smashed.
In simpler terms, maintaining a balance in a situation like PlayStation’s, where multiple teams are working on high-budget projects, isn’t easy if there are signs of an impending crisis. Hitting the reset button won’t magically solve all problems; it takes time for things to stabilize after such a move.
Sony is fully aware of this situation, but unfortunately, the harm has already been inflicted. The PlayStation brand will undoubtedly experience a backlash from what seems to be an ill-advised pursuit towards live services. If there’s any positive aspect to consider, it’s that PlayStation has chosen to acknowledge their losses and reevaluate their business strategy.
As a dedicated gamer, let me tell you from my personal perspective: Helldivers 2 is unlike most games – it’s not the norm, and Sony has unfortunately learned this lesson the hard way. For nearly an entire console generation, they’ve been investing resources, time, and funds into a vision that was more of a dream than reality.
How do you interpret these events? In your opinion, what lies ahead for Sony? You can express your thoughts by shaking your virtual head in the comment section below.
How would you describe Sony’s live service push this generation? (1 vote)
- Simply unforgivable100%
- Bad 0%
- Just okay 0%
- Good, actually 0%
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2025-01-17 04:06