Shuhei Yoshida Resisted Sony's Live Service Push

Former PlayStation executive Shuhei Yoshida expressed his reservations about Sony’s push into live service video games, a move he believes was risky from the outset. In a recent interview with Kinda Funny Games, Yoshida, who served as President of SIE Worldwide Studios from 2008 to 2019, reflected on Sony's strategy, particularly in light of recent developments within the company's live service sector.

The landscape for PlayStation's live service games has been turbulent. While Arrowhead's Helldivers 2 achieved remarkable success, selling 12 million copies in just 12 weeks and becoming the fastest-selling PlayStation Studios game, other ventures have faced significant challenges. Sony's Concord stands out as a notable failure, shutting down after only a few weeks due to dismal player engagement. The financial impact was severe, with the game's development reportedly costing around $200 million, not including additional expenses for IP rights and the acquisition of developer Firewalk Studios.

The failure of Concord was followed by the cancellation of other live service projects, including Naughty Dog's multiplayer game based on The Last of Us, and two unannounced titles, one from Bluepoint working on a God of War project and another from Bend Studio, known for Days Gone. Yoshida, who recently left Sony after 31 years, suggested that if he were still in his role, he would have resisted the shift towards live service games.

Yoshida highlighted the allocation of resources during his tenure, noting that Sony provided additional funds for live service games under the leadership of Hermen Hulst, the current Sony Interactive Entertainment Studio Business Group CEO. He acknowledged the inherent risks in the highly competitive live service genre but appreciated the company's willingness to experiment. Yoshida praised the unexpected success of Helldivers 2 and expressed hope that Sony's strategy would ultimately pay off.

In a financial call, Sony president, COO, and CFO Hiroki Totoki reflected on the lessons learned from both Helldivers 2 and Concord. He admitted that Sony should have implemented development gates, such as user testing and internal evaluations, much earlier in the process for Concord. Totoki also criticized Sony's "siloed organization," suggesting that better cross-departmental collaboration could have mitigated some of the issues faced by Concord, which launched close to the successful Black Myth: Wukong.

Sadahiko Hayakawa, Sony's senior vice president for finance and IR, emphasized the importance of sharing insights across studios to enhance development management and post-launch content scaling. He stressed the need for an optimal portfolio that balances Sony's strengths in single-player games with the potential upside of live service games.

Looking ahead, Sony continues to invest in live service titles, with projects like Bungie's Marathon, Guerrilla's Horizon Online, and Haven Studio's Fairgame$ in development, signaling the company's ongoing commitment to this challenging yet potentially rewarding sector.