In an interview about the future of PlayStation, Herman Hulst points to Helldivers 2 as proof that it’s worth pursuing further live service games.
After the abrupt death of Concord and the closure of its developer, it seemed like Sony had begun to distance itself from the idea of live service games.
Despite once promising no less than 12 such titles by 2026, it’s been claimed Sony has since cancelled multiple live service games, leaving only heist shooter Fairgame$ and Bungie’s Marathon reboot on Sony’s schedule.
That said, Sony never explicitly said anything about ditching its live service game plans entirely, and now PlayStation Studios CEO Herman Hulst has reaffirmed the company’s commitment to those plans.
In a recent interview with Japanese outlet Famitsu, Hulst was specifically asked if Sony’s strategy for live service games, as well as mobile games, had changed in the aftermath of Concord’s shut down.
As a reminder, Concord was such a failure that Sony delisted the game and refunded customers just two weeks after launch before shutting down developer Firewalk Studios a month later.
Although Hulst says Sony has had to ‘make changes to our business to solidify a more sustainable operating base,’ it doesn’t sound like he’s undeterred in his goals to pump out more live service games.
‘Going forward, we will continue to focus on developing live service titles along with the story-driven single-player titles that our players want,’ says Hulst.
He adds, ‘We are learning a lot as we establish the ability to develop high-quality live service titles,’ but he doesn’t specify precisely what lessons have been learned.
Hulst certainly doesn’t address what went wrong with Concord, only highlighting how Helldivers 2 (which Sony also published this year) ‘achieved results that support the potential of live service titles.’
As for mobile games, Hulst does mention focusing on collaborations with external third-party studios, pointing to the upcoming Destiny: Rising spin-off in development at NetEase Games.
This could suggest Sony will prioritise having its partners work on mobile games for its IPs rather than having its own internal studios handle them.
At the very least, there have been some signs that Sony will more sensibly approach development of live service games. In a statement from November, Sony’s senior vice president for finance and IR, Sadahiko Hayakawa, acknowledged the risks involved in making live service games and that Sony’s strengths lie in its single-player offerings.
So far, in terms of single-player games, it has Ghost Of Yōtei scheduled for 2025, with Insomniac’s Wolverine project still lacking a launch date. Hopefully, Sony is saving some exciting reveals for 2025.
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