Yoshida on Sony's Live Service Shift

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

Yoshida's comments arrive amidst a turbulent period for PlayStation's live-service ventures. While Arrowhead's Helldivers 2 achieved phenomenal success, selling 12 million copies in 12 weeks, other live-service titles faced cancellations or disastrous launches.

Concord, a Sony title, stands as one of PlayStation's biggest failures, lasting mere weeks before being shut down due to extremely low player numbers. The project, costing approximately $200 million according to Kotaku (a figure that reportedly didn't cover the entire development, IP rights, or Firewalk Studios acquisition), proved a costly setback. This followed the cancellation of Naughty Dog's The Last of Us multiplayer game and, more recently, two unannounced live-service titles—a God of War game from Bluepoint and another from Bend Studio (Days Gone developers).

Yoshida, who recently departed Sony after 31 years, shared his perspective in the Kinda Funny Games interview. He stated that, were he in Hermen Hulst's (current Sony Interactive Entertainment Studio Business Group CEO) position, he would have pushed back against the live-service strategy. He explained his budgetary concerns, arguing against diverting funds from established franchises like God of War to potentially less profitable live-service projects.

Yoshida acknowledged that Sony provided increased resources after his departure, allowing for parallel development of both single-player and live-service games. He recognized the inherent risk, but highlighted Sony's decision to invest despite this. He expressed hope for future success, citing Helldivers 2's unexpected triumph as evidence of the unpredictable nature of the industry. He concluded that, had he remained, he likely would have resisted this direction, suggesting this 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 performances. Totoki emphasized the need for earlier user testing and internal evaluations for Concord, suggesting that internal issues were identified too late in the development process.

Totoki also attributed issues to Sony's "siloed organization" and Concord's release window, potentially leading to market cannibalization due to its proximity to Black Myth: Wukong's release. He highlighted the need for improved inter-departmental communication and strategic release window planning to avoid similar conflicts.

Sadahiko Hayakawa (Sony's Senior Vice President for Finance and IR) further underscored the lessons learned from both games, emphasizing the intention to share these across studios to improve development management and post-launch content strategies. He reiterated Sony's intention to maintain a balanced portfolio, combining its proven single-player strengths with the riskier, but potentially higher-reward, live-service model.

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