We've heard a lot about Sony's plans to make a big push into live-service games, seeking larger, recurring revenues than their single-player hits can provide. Originally, Sony had planned to ship around 12 live-service games by 2026 but that number has now been cut in half.
During Sony's latest earnings call, Sony President, Hiroki Totoki, explained that the company has opted to scale back its live-service plans a bit in order to ensure quality. As transcribed by VGC, Totoki said:
“We are reviewing this, we are trying as much as possible to ensure these games are enjoyed and liked by gamers for a long time. Of the 12 titles, six titles will be released by FY25 – that’s our current plan. The remaining six titles, we are still working on.”
Totoki added that this is the “total number of live service and multiplayer titles” planned in the mid to long term and it has no plans to drop the idea entirely. However, he notes that “game quality should be the most important thing”.
We already know about a few of Sony's live-service games, including a multiplayer Last of Us spin-off, a new game set in the Horizon universe and of course, Bungie is working away on games like Marathon and the next chapter of Destiny, although Bungie has reportedly ran into troubles of its own this year.
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KitGuru Says: As long as Sony continues to still make great single-player games, and these multiplayer titles don't come at the expense of those experiences, then they should be able to transition into the multiplayer market smoothly without backlash. If the company took WB's approach and completely turned away from single-player to chase multiplayer-levels of monetisation, then there would certainly be uproar.