Former PlayStation executive Shuhei Yoshida reveals he would have resisted Sony's controversial push into live-service gaming. Yoshida, who led SIE Worldwide Studios from 2008 to 2019, expressed concerns to Kinda Funny Games about the inherent risks involved in Sony's live-service investments.
This statement comes amidst a period of significant challenges for PlayStation's live-service titles. While Helldivers 2 achieved remarkable success, becoming the fastest-selling PlayStation Studios game ever with 12 million copies sold in just 12 weeks, other ventures have faltered.
Concord, a notable example, became a major setback, lasting only a few weeks before being shut down due to extremely low player numbers. This failure, costing Sony an estimated $200 million (according to Kotaku), followed the cancellation of Naughty Dog's The Last of Us multiplayer project and, more recently, two unannounced live-service games—a God of War title from Bluepoint and another from Bend Studio (Days Gone developers).
Yoshida, departing Sony after 31 years, hypothetically stated in the interview that, were he in CEO Hermen Hulst's position, he would have resisted the live-service expansion. He highlighted the resource allocation dilemma: diverting funds from established franchises like God of War to the uncertain realm of live-service games.
While acknowledging Sony's strategic approach of providing additional resources alongside continued single-player development, Yoshida emphasized the inherent risk in the competitive live-service market. He praised the unexpected success of Helldivers 2, highlighting the unpredictability of the industry, but reiterated his belief that a more cautious approach would have been preferable. He speculated that this differing opinion might have contributed to his departure.
Sony's financial call offered further insight. President, COO, and CFO Hiroki Totoki acknowledged lessons learned from both Helldivers 2's triumph and Concord's failure. He emphasized the need for earlier user testing and internal evaluations, suggesting that Concord's problems should have been identified and addressed much sooner. Totoki also cited Sony's "siloed organization" and Concord's unfortunate release window (close to Black Myth: Wukong) as contributing factors.
Senior vice president Sadahiko Hayakawa echoed this sentiment, highlighting the contrasting outcomes of Helldivers 2 and Concord and the company's commitment to sharing these lessons across its studios to improve future development and live-service management. The future PlayStation live-service strategy will balance the proven success of single-player titles with the higher-risk, higher-reward potential of live-service games. Several live-service projects remain underway, including Bungie's Marathon, Guerrilla's Horizon Online, and Haven Studio's Fairgame$.
