The future of PlayStation it is above all in the live service. This in very few words is the long-term strategy chosen by Sony, supported by the purchase of studios specialized in GaaS, plans to significantly increase investments in this sector and entrusting PlayStation Studios and third parties with the task of giving birth to 12 games games capable of penetrating the thriving and insidious live service market. More than a year has passed since then, and amidst the discontent of fans and an insipid PlayStation Showcase, this change of direction still not convincing.
The picture painted by Sony last year is clear: single-player AAA games are still a huge PlayStation strength and PS5 sales are booming, however, to grow further, PlayStation needs to diversify its offering and become less dependent on traditional business of triple-A gaming, which is proving to be less and less sustainable from generation to generation.
The Japanese company therefore believes GaaS is the answer to this need and only time will tell whether it will have proved to be a good or disastrous move. For the moment, however, the players most fond of the “old” PlayStation have only seen the negative implications, with a focus of investments heavily recalibrated on live services to the detriment of single player games and a 2024 still to be seen from the point of view of team productions of PlayStation Studios, among other things after a 2023 supported only by Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 by Insomniac Games.
Was focusing on live services the right move?
The latest news from PlayStation doesn’t help either. On the one hand, the multiplayer of The Last of Us, certainly the most attractive and awaited GaaS among those revealed so far, disappeared from the radar, rumors about internal discontent at PlayStation Studios on the new path traced by Jim Ryan, while Bungie (acquired by Sony for 3.6 billion dollars to take advantage of its great experience in live services) is apparently in disarray, between heavy staff cuts, revenue forecasts significantly below expectations and the alleged postponement of Marathon and Destiny 2: The Ultimate Form.
Today, however, the news arrived that 6 of the 12 live service games in production at PlayStation Studios have been postponed beyond the previously set deadline of March 2026. According to Hiroki Totoki, the next interim CEO of PlayStation, this decision was made to improve its quality and ability to attract players for the long term. A sensible choice, but the fact that it was made so far in advance suggests that the projects in question are very behind on the work or far from the company’s high quality standards.
If a good morning starts in the morning, it is understandable that some fans, at least those who keep informed on the movements of the gaming market, are even more fearful about the new path chosen by the company, although it must be said that it is certainly premature to draw conclusions , also because in fact we will only be able to do it in the next few years when the first GaaS made in PlayStation arrive on the market.
What is certain is that we are talking about a extremely treacherous market. If on the one hand we have a handful of productions with pharaonic profits such as Fortnite, League of Legends, Apex Legends, Warzone and Genshin Impact, on the other we have numerous projects that died a few months after launch or which after a promising launch failed to retain revenue players on the servers.
This is an editorial written by a member of the editorial team and is not necessarily representative of the editorial line of Multiplayer.it.
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