Yoshida on Sony's Live Service Shift

Former PlayStation executive Shuhei Yoshida revealed he would have resisted Sony's controversial push into live-service games. Yoshida, President of SIE Worldwide Studios from 2008 to 2019, told Kinda Funny Games that Sony recognized the inherent risk in this investment.

Yoshida's comments follow a turbulent period for PlayStation's live-service ventures. While Helldivers 2, from Arrowhead, was a resounding success—becoming the fastest-selling PlayStation Studios game ever with 12 million copies sold in just 12 weeks—other live-service titles faced cancellations or disastrous launches.

Concord stands as a significant setback, lasting mere weeks before being shut down due to extremely low player numbers. Sony subsequently cancelled the game and closed its developer. Kotaku reported the initial development cost was approximately $200 million, a sum insufficient to cover the entire development, IP rights acquisition, or the purchase of Firewalk Studios itself.

This followed the cancellation of Naughty Dog's The Last of Us multiplayer game and, recently, two unannounced live-service titles—a God of War project at Bluepoint and another at Bend Studio (Days Gone developers).

Yoshida, who recently left Sony after 31 years, discussed PlayStation's live-service strategy in the interview, stating that if he were current CEO Hermen Hulst, he would have pushed back against the initial direction. He explained his budgetary responsibilities and the potential conflict with continued investment in successful single-player franchises like God of War.

Yoshida acknowledged that Sony provided increased resources after his departure, enabling the pursuit of live-service titles alongside continued single-player game development. He recognized the inherent risk but praised the company's approach, hoping for future successes. The unexpected success of Helldivers 2 highlights the unpredictable nature of the industry. He speculated that his resistance to the live-service strategy might have contributed to his departure.

In a recent financial call, Sony's Hiroki Totoki (President, COO, and CFO) discussed lessons learned from both Helldivers 2 and Concord's contrasting outcomes. He emphasized the need for earlier user testing and internal evaluations for Concord, suggesting that internal issues should have been identified and addressed sooner.

Totoki also cited Sony's "siloed organization" and Concord's release window (close to Black Myth: Wukong) as contributing factors. He highlighted the need for improved inter-departmental collaboration and more strategic release window planning to avoid cannibalization.

Sadahiko Hayakawa (Senior Vice President for Finance and IR) further compared the launches of Helldivers 2 and Concord, emphasizing the shared lessons learned across studios, focusing on development management and post-launch content expansion. He reiterated Sony's intention to maintain a balanced portfolio of single-player and live-service titles, leveraging proven IP for predictable successes while managing the inherent risks of live-service ventures.

Several PlayStation live-service games are still in development, including Bungie's Marathon, Guerrilla's Horizon Online, and Haven Studio's Fairgame$.